


A New Perspective

by HelAuditore



Category: Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018), Star Wars, Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Chewie is the best wingman ever, During Canon, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, First Time, Han explores his sexuality, Han is a thirsty bitch, Han is also a dumb bitch, Lando is a smug little shit, M/M, Pining, the course to Kessel takes way longer than necessary but it's for scientific purposes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-23
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-08-21 05:40:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 32,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16570697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HelAuditore/pseuds/HelAuditore
Summary: At times clinging to your past makes more damage than letting go of it, chasing the ghost of something long gone can't bring happiness to your future. So Han reflects on this and struggles between his past and what his present has to offer him, something new and fresh, something completely different from what he's been used to. A new challenge, a new experience, a new perspective. And maybe that perspective for Han, was a smuggler who cheated at Sabacc.A self-indulgent rewriting of Solo: A Star Wars Story.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing about Han and Lando, and definitely my first time writing about the Star Wars universe, so please be very gentle with me!
> 
> The title of the fic was inspired by the song New Perspective by Panic! At The Disco, which happens to be very fitting to the entire story.

Three years may not seem like that long of a period, but when you're working for the Empire, seeing and doing things that you would have never imagined, they can feel like a lifetime.

If you're spending those three years, thinking about the girl you loved who you've been forced to leave behind on the planet you've both tried to flee for the greatest part of your life, well... That's going to feel like forever.

To Han those three years had felt like forever _and_ a lifetime. When he was being blasted around by explosions on a battlefield, what kept him going was the thought of Qi'Ra waiting for him to fly back to Corellia and sweep her off of its grimy, unforgiving ground.

He had dreamed and fantasized about that moment every single night before falling asleep – when falling asleep was even a possibility during all those battles and raids. Entering the atmosphere of the planet at full speed, getting off of his ship with blasters ablaze and ready to take down everyone who was holding Qi'Ra captive. Because certainly she was in some sort of prison, he clearly remembered her being taken away by Imperial officers, he was never going to forget that moment of his life. No prison was going to be able to keep Han out, not when the woman he loved was being held prisoner.

Han had imagined several different versions of how he was going to break her out of a dark, dirty cell and look into her eyes, hear her call out his name, scoop her up into his arms, hold her tight and finally bury his face into her hair again. Yet at the same time, he wouldn't admit to himself that time had started fuzzing up his memory, that as months and months went by he had forgotten the smell of her skin, or the sound of her voice, and he was starting to fear he would forget every other little detail about her beautiful face.

But life is an insidious little bitch, isn't she? She just loves throwing curve balls at people, and messing up entire plans, no matter the dedication and the time spent working out every small factor and specifics. That's what had happened to Han, and the more he realized Qi'Ra just wasn't the same innocent girl he'd grown up with, the more his entire world crumbled.

She wasn't in any kind of distress, she wasn't bound in a cell and she wasn't even on Corellia anymore. She was in the headquarters of a powerful gangster that went by the name of Dryden Vos, and when she saw him for the first time in three years there wasn't any spark in her eyes anymore, her light was completely different. The smell of her hair and skin wasn't quite the same anymore. Mind you, it was expensive and exquisite but didn't really fit her, or at least the Qi'Ra that Han used to know. Not to mention that she was high-ranking in one of the biggest criminal organizations ever.

Han wanted to seem absolutely confident in getting his girl back, but the more he looked at her, the foreigner she appeared. Qi'Ra had a different aura, an energy she radiated that almost made Han uncomfortable, and not because she was used to leadership now, she may have looked the same but didn't _feel_ like her former self. He couldn't quite shake the nasty feeling in the pit of his stomach, nor could he swallow down the knot tying his throat.

His seemingly unshakable self-assurance that very often resulted into full blown cockiness, was starting to waver, especially after the _billionth_ time Beckett told him not to trust her. Chewie had noticed the little shift in Han's behavior, and wouldn't stop going on about it in a way that was driving Han up the walls of the Crimson Dawn ship that was taking them up to Fort Ypso.

Han groaned upon seeing more snow, as if he weren't already aware of the rigid climate of Vandor, but was at least happy to know they were going to warm up inside a saloon. He was a little less pleased to see it was perched up on a mountain, and just when he thought he had grumbled about it only to himself, Chewbacca was already growling into his ear.

“Gimme a break.” Han rolled his eyes, following into Qi'Ra's steps and pouting at her petite, heavily clothed figure walking up the icy stairs.

Chewbacca let out another annoyed growl, and Han just shook his head as they kept walking. Beckett was right ahead of them, and he had already expressed everything he had to express about the whole situation, the last thing Han wanted was for him to become a broken record of unsought advice.

The inside of The Lodge was definitely much warmer than the outside, and it smelled like smoked meat, ale and burnt circuits. _Way_ too much like burnt circuits. That was mainly because of the droids fighting each other inside a caged pit area.

Han wasn't particularly impressed, nor interested in his surroundings, he had definitely seen much worse in his life, be it the battlefields or simply the streets he grew up on. He just wanted to be close to Qi'Ra, talk to her, try to study what this different person was like and see if the girl he used to know was still there, somewhere. Or at least make the new one like him.

Han sucked in a deep breath after taking off his fur coat, put on his trademark lopsided smirk and walked up to Qi'Ra, who appeared to know her way around the saloon as if she had been there several times. Doing what, Han didn't particularly fancy asking.

“So, this guy you're talking about, this uh...” Han hooked his thumbs to his belt, sarcasm dripping from his voice “amazing smuggler. What's he like?”

Yes, his question was partly just a reason to speak to her, but also partly because he wanted to take this ship matter into his own hands. If the whole thing was going to impress her and somehow work in his favor, then it was just an incredible plus. Qi'Ra looked up at him, as she sauntered through the halls of the saloon, a small, playful smile curving her painted lips.

“He's one of the best. He's slipped through the Empire's fingers more times than anyone else.” she started, Han frowned his lips, pretending to be impressed “He's attractive, too,” she went on, and that wasn't exactly what Han wanted to hear from her “Sophisticated, impeccable taste and... Charisma.”

Yeah, Han was definitely regretting his question.

He was already having confidence issues being around Qi'Ra as it was, he didn't need to know that they were seeking out someone who she actually was attracted to. Wasn't the dude retired? Han had figured he was going to be a wrinkly old man who had just turned to gambling to hang on to his mischievous youth or something.

“Not to mention his _prodigious_...” Qi'Ra continued, unnervingly.

“We get it.” Han cut her off, his smirk had vanished as soon as she had started speaking about the smuggler. His mind had already started thinking about Qi'Ra laying in bed with an old man, and he wanted to throw up.

Little did he know that upon entering the gambling room, Han would remain completely struck by the man Qi'Ra was raving on and on about. He embodied everything that she'd been listing just a few moments before, and what he wasn't expecting was to feel a something weird, yet not foreign, twist in his stomach while he listened to the man boasting about something that Han wasn't even paying attention to.

“That's the guy, huh?” Han's smirk bloomed back on his lips, his eyes didn't leave the man's figure as he studied him. There was something about him that excited Han, and he still couldn't quite place it, or maybe he didn't want to. Yet at the same time an idea was forming in the back of his mind, an idea that was probably only thrilling to him.

“An interesting style...” Han went on commenting, biting his lower lip as he looked at his bright yellow shirt.

So that was Qi'Ra's idea of being sophisticated? Dressing like a fop? Laughable.

“I'll say...” Qi'Ra quipped, as they moved closer to the Sabacc table, but still remaining out of sight.

“You say he won his ship?” Han said as he kept scrutinizing the man, tilting his head ever so slightly and squinting, as if he was focusing extremely hard to solve an enigma of sorts. “I can take him. Let me at him.”

Qi'Ra widened her eyes, her voice lowering to a whisper as she scolded Han “Absolutely not!”

The shit-eating smirk on Han's face grew, a low chuckle rumbling into the back of his throat as he looked at a worried Qi'Ra.

“Han, these guys are serious gamblers.” she tried to further persuade him against his decision.

“I _am_ serious. Stake me.” Han had already made up his mind, and there was no changing it in any way.

Chewbacca let out a pained growl, while he stood right behind Han, trying to be his usual killjoy self.

“Don't listen to him!” Han pressed, and Qi’Ra smiled, rolling her eyes.

He couldn’t deny the warm, fuzzy feeling spreading through his chest upon seeing her smile like that.

She knew him, she knew how good he was at getting what he wanted, and since they all needed that ship, Han knew he'd also get his way. He was really aching for a challenge, and the one presented in front of him seemed a good one. It looked good, too.

"Alright then, try not to lose all my money _and_ the ship." Qi'Ra sighed, and the sudden softness in her eyes reminded Han of when they were kids on Corellia.

"I won't. We're getting out of here with his ship and double the money." Han raised his eyebrows, smirk still plastered on his face "I never lose." he added, and he didn't know if he was only talking about games and jobs, or also about his childhood sweetheart.

Chewbacca let out a few more growls, mocking sounding ones, followed by a roaring laugh. Han's smirk turned into a murderous glare, Qi'Ra had absolutely no idea that the wookie had just made fun of him for having lost her, but if he started fighting Chewbacca there was no way the plan could ever work.

"I'll deal with you later." Han mumbled as he pushed past Chewie to walk right in front of the infamous smuggler.

The other man wasn't even aware of Han's presence, as he stretched across the table in order to collect the loot of his last winning game. Everyone was making a great ruckus by cheering and applauding, and it was only when Han opened his mouth that all eyes flew up to him and silence fell upon the room.

"This seat taken?" Han asked in the lowest tone he could manage, a smugness about him that made everyone but the smuggler gasp softly.

The other man froze mid-action, his eyes darting up to meet Han's. His gaze was intense, bolting Han to the spot as he waited for an answer that was coming a few too many seconds later than he expected. Han was starting to feel a tad little exposed underneath the man's eyes, but he didn't let his confidence vacillate.

"If nobody's in the seat then it ain't taken, friend." the smuggler shook his head slightly, eyes still glued to Han as he slowly sat back in his seat.

Han thought that the other man took the term _'staring'_ to a whole new level, and for a moment he even started to think he didn't need to blink at all. Han sat down into the chair opposite from the other man, while the droids and aliens surrounding him started murmuring and chattering among themselves. Everyone was probably wondering about the identity of the only other human that was willing to challenge someone that was clearly unbeaten at the game.

“This is, uhh–” Han started, his game strategy was to look clueless and non-threatening, so that his overconfident opponent would actually gamble his ship. “Sabācc?” mispronouncing the name of the game was the first step.

“Sabacc.” came the other man's prompt correction. He was still staring Han down, not even looking at the cards that the croupier had started dealing.

“ _Sabacc_. Got it.” Han echoed, pressing his lips together and starting to collect the cards that landed in front of him.

“You play it before?” came the obvious question from the other man, he was starting to look skeptical, but he just wasn't averting those damn eyes from Han.

“Couple times, yeah.” Han nodded as he lied through his teeth. He’d played Sabacc with the other street thieves on Corellia quite a few times.

“Captain Lando Calrissian.” the other man finally introduced himself.

“Han Solo.” he pointed at himself, a smirk curling his lips. “Looks like you're having a good day.” he went on, checking his own cards.

Not too bad for a first hand.

“I'm a lucky guy.” Lando raised his eyebrows, breaking eye contact for the first time to look at his own cards and placed his first bet, piling a few golden coins on the center of the table.

“Can I ask you a question, Captain Calrissian?” Han asked, his plan still in motion as he feigned curiosity.

At this point, Lando was probably thinking that Han was no competition at all, his interest seemed to have died down a bit. Either that, or he was just playing hard to get. His eyes weren't all over Han anymore, as they fixated absentmindedly on a metal trinket he was twirling in his fingers.

For some reason, Han was finding those movements extremely pleasant to look at.

“Anything, _Hen_.” Lando replied almost uninterested, eyes still on the trinket.

Alright, he was definitely still in the game. He was just trying to dismiss Han's abilities by mispronouncing his name. Fair enough.

“That's Han, but... That's ok.” Han smiled. He couldn't not appreciate the little sideswipe, it spiced the whole situation up a bit.

Lando thoroughly ignored the correction, but Han did gain his attention back. He casually threw his cards on the table, looking at Han as if he was just a waste of time. Han didn't falter, the confidence he had completely lost with Qi'Ra was being fueled up again by that game of Sabacc.

“I heard a story about you. I was wondering if it's true?” Han asked.

He watched as Lando suddenly – even if imperceptibly – perked up at the question, and lifted up a hand to stop Han from adding anything else.

“ _Everything_ you heard about me... Is true.” Lando raised his eyebrows, then waited for a droid to fill up his goblet with wine. "Thanks love." he briefly looked up at the waitress, then focused his attention back to Han.

This time his stare was more intense, probably eager to know what Han would ask him, and... Goodness, why was it making Han's lower stomach burn? He shifted ever so slightly in his seat, as an uncomfortable feeling started spreading through his body. Those eyes were a little too piercing for his taste.

He needed to get a grip.

How many stories were there about Lando Calrissian, anyway? And if each one of them was true, Han would have really wanted to ask something completely inappropriate and made up by him, only to see how he would react. He highly doubted everything people said about him was true, what a cocky bastard.

"Did you win your ship playing cards?" Han managed to keep his voice steady, and his expression unaltered by whatever was going on inside of him.

Lando smirked at the question "Oh, I won a lot of things," he began, fishing a card from the bunch in the middle of the table "I once won a subtropical moon in the Oseon Belt."

Han couldn't help but notice how much Calrissian loved bragging about his conquests. Yet at the same time, he had to try really hard not to think about how unnervingly nice his voice actually sounded.

"Wow." was all Han reacted with, and a mocking smile painted on his face to go along with his exclamation.

"Turned out to be a real money pit..." Lando went on anyway, clearly still very fascinated by the sound of his own voice. He let out a small chuckle as he looked down at his own cards.

As much as Han was enjoying staring at the fluttering of Captain Calrissian's eyelashes as he gazed down at his cards, he knew that it was time to throw the real bait of the whole plan. He sucked in a quick breath, and shook his head.

"I'm impressed. I don't think I'd have the nerve to gamble with something I love as much as my ship." he dropped the hint as casually as he could, and didn't peek from underneath his own lashes until he knew it was almost time to reel Lando in.

"Really? What do you fly?"

_Got him._

"VCX-100." Han aimed for the stars, keeping a completely straight face.

Lando wolf-whistled at that, and everyone at the table exclaimed.

"That's a quality ship, right boys?" Lando commented, clearly impressed.

"It's the fastest in the galaxy, but there's a lot of great ships out there." Han shrugged at his own words, as he kept on reeling Lando in "I'm sure yours is very nice!"

Han had to bite back a smirk, this time, trying to play it as cool as possible. He knew how conniving he could be if he needed to, and Lando was falling straight into the web he was meticulously weaving. Now everyone was convinced he owned a massive ship with various comforts and weaponry, and Han knew that if he riled up Lando enough during the game, he was probably going to bet his own ship against the VCX-100.

"Gets me where I'm going.” Lando shrugged, a sly smile curling his lips.

He didn't brag about his ship, nor did he give away any information about it. Not that it was an issue, if Qi'Ra knew he had a ship big enough for their cargo, and fast enough to make the Kessel Run, details were only an extra.

Han knew he had Chewie's eyes on him, but also Qi'Ra’s, and that was the perfect way for him to prove the point he had made earlier: he never lost. So maybe, just maybe, he could get her back. His gaze flicked up to find her leaning against a column, an attentive scowl wrinkling slightly her soft features as she watched the scene developing before her.

"We still playing or what?" Lando arched an eyebrow expectantly.

How much time had Han wasted thinking about winning Qi'Ra back instead of winning the damn ship? He didn't think it was that long, but Lando was already getting his sophisticated underpants in a bunch.

"'Course we are." Han furrowed his eyebrows as he drew a card, and waited for Lando to reveal his own hand with a smug grin on his face.

A full blown grin. That was a completely new expression that Han still hadn't seen and it caught him completely off guard. The smile dropped off his lips and his breath hitched in his throat just for a few seconds, leaving him absolutely baffled as to why he'd react so dramatically to a facial expression. That was ridiculous.

But everyone, including Lando, didn't read anything more than defeat in Han's own change of expression, when really... Han had a better hand, that resulted in him being the winner of the first round.

"Beginner's luck!" Han smiled so hard that the corners of his eyes crinkled.

"Well played!" Lando applauded him with a smile that still felt a little too condescending, but Han knew he was going to make him change his mind.

The stakes quickly started to become higher, as the game went on. The other players tried to keep it relatively safe while Han and Lando were betting tons of coins and pieces of jewelry. They were an even match, though, and both of them had amassed quite a sum on the side.

There was some kind of electricity crackling through the air that separated them, and everyone else seemed to feel it too, as they awkwardly looked around the table and the rest of the room even. They were fighting for dominance through the game, and their gazes and body languages were showing just how intensely they were getting into it.

Lando was looking way too pleased anytime he saw Han tighten his jaw and flare his nostrils in distress, at some point Han thought he'd seen Lando lick his lips as he stared at the muscles balling up in his jawline. Did he imagine that? He could no longer tell. But he had found himself biting down his bottom lip when Lando had thrown his head back in exasperation, letting out a harsh sigh.

Hell that was probably the most exciting thing he had done up until that point in his life, so much that the train heist seemed like a joke. It was thrilling and rewarding, and he really couldn't think of a better thing to do than staring at such a good looking man, who groaned every time he lost to Han. He had even forgotten that Qi'Ra was watching, by that point.

If they had started out the game with six players, they were history by then. Completely beaten by Han and Lando who had made the competition solely about them since the very beginning. The sore losers had up and left the dimly lit room, going for a drink they probably could barely afford, but the rest of the spectators had begun to take sides. More than half of them had started cheering on Han, probably just because it was about time someone other than Captain Lando Calrissian won a Sabacc round.

Han had started to feel cockier than when the game had begun, he could see Lando getting more and more annoyed by his wins, and that was the best kind of fuel.

"I'm sorry, minus two." Han feigned regret as he placed his winning hand on the table, while his supporters cheered and clapped. Han smiled as he looked around the room, then at Lando's irritated expression.

“This game is fun!” Han topped it all off as he dragged his loot closer to him.

“Alright, how about this,” Lando paused briefly, and Han didn't know whether it was for the sake of being dramatic, or because he was still thinking his choice through "I'll see your bet, and I'll raise you..." he grabbed a small stack of golden coins and threw it carelessly into the middle of the table "Two thousands."

Han had to physically contain himself from pulling any sort of victorious expression, because he knew the plan was going exactly according to how he had envisioned it. He just let out a nervous little snicker, as he checked his cards once more.

“I'll see you two thousands, and I'll raise you–” Han looked down at the entirety of his sweepstake, and pushed all of it towards the rest of the credits “Whatever much this is.”

Everyone gasped in utter shock, and Lando raised his eyebrows, sarcastically.

"Woah woah woah, _Hen_ ," he started, mispronouncing his name again "slow down! You might wanna quit while you're ahead." he warned him, a patronizing smile stretching his lips.

That smile did things to Han, things that nobody else's smirk had ever done to the entirety of his body... But he was done wondering why, he was only enjoying it to the fullest.

Han threw on the central pile the only coin he had left behind, a lopsided smirk wrinkled his features to match with Lando's smug expression.

"You might wanna quit while you're behind." Han said, matter-of-factly.

That provoked a crystalline laugh to erupt from Lando's lips. He was still enjoying the banter as much as Han was, but probably still didn't take him seriously enough.

"I like this kid!" Lando announced to the rest of the already amused room. "You're adorable."

He knew it was patronizing, condescending, and that Lando was treating him like he was some sort of brat, but Han was still loving every single one of these interactions. That was why he was going to show him a _real_ brat.

"I'm serious." Han said calmly, challenging smirk still plastered on his lips.

“And I'm calling.” Lando put on a little teasing smile of his own, and Han had to shift in his seat once more.

“With what? Your scarf?” Han scrunched up his nose and shook his head. He needed to really get into this if he wanted Lando to dance to his exact tune “Not my style.” he smirked.

“My ship.” Lando deadpanned, and the room collectively exclaimed once more “Against _your_ ship. Time to find out if you got the nerve.”

That was it. He had won. He had obtained exactly what he needed, and now he couldn't wait for the actual victory to unfold under his and everybody else's eyes. He would have leaped off his seat in celebration if he could, but he just limited himself to bouncing his knee up and down. Han looked up at Qi'Ra briefly, she looked extremely pleased to see that Han could still get his way, no matter the odds being against him.

“What the hell.” Han smiled, accepting the bet.

Lando grinned one of his biggest grins, definitely thrilled to have a chance to win one of the fastest ships in the whole wide galaxy.

Oh, how disappointed he was going to be. Han just couldn't wait.

“Straight staves.” Han announced as he revealed his cards, slowly placing them on the sturdy wooden surface of the table, and the room exploded in celebration.

Han watched the grin vanish from Lando's face, and making way to short-lived aggravation, before laughing it all off as he did the first time Han won a round.

“You played me. You're good. You're very good.” Lando commented in a pungent tone that Han just wrote off as him being a sore loser.

“Yeah...” Han said as he reached across the table to collect all the credits he'd just won, when Lando cut him off.

“But not good enough.”

Han froze, looking up at his opponent in complete dismay.

What did that even mean?

“Full Sabacc.” Lando showed him his hand of cards, then vehemently tossed it on the table.

That was simply impossible, he hadn't seen that coming at all. Han fell back on the chair as he stared incredulously at the two pairs of cards and a Sylop, hand that made Han's straight staves look like the most insignificant hand ever.

He had lost, at the last minute. He had failed once again, just like he had failed his dream of becoming a professional pilot. It felt like a punch to the stomach, he couldn't even hear the rest of the room going absolutely crazy over Lando's incredible win, he couldn't even think straight. He didn't even feel it when the alien standing right beside him sympathetically patted him on his shoulder, offering a few words of comfort that he couldn't hear.

His eyes went up to Qi'Ra again, her expression had inevitably morphed into disappointment, as if she had known all along that he was always going to be a good for nothing street thief. The boy that had been kicked out of the Imperial flight academy, and tossed into battles as a foot soldier to basically die.

Qi'Ra turned on her heels, not even dignifying Han with a single look, and left.

“I told you to quit while you were ahead!” Lando shouted over the commotion, victorious smile threatening to split his face in a half. “Drinks on me!”

In that moment Han would have wanted to actually split Lando's face in a half with his fist, especially because his brain had started functioning again, and he had just realized that Lando had somehow managed to cheat.

How could he have played a sylop if the only two in the bunch had already been played?

Lando Calrissian was a damn fraud, not a serious gambler, like Qi'Ra had insisted on.

Han briefly shook his head, his jaw clenching so hard that he could hear his teeth creak, then stormed out of the room, leaving Lando to his very much undeserved shower of praise. He thought he'd heard him call out his name, mispronounced as the last few times it had come out of his mouth, but didn't turn around. His blood was boiling, and if he didn't want to make a scene he'd better just leave the room.

Chewbacca stopped him from going outside in the cold, where he wanted to scream his frustration at the top of his lungs, and growled at him that he had warned him not to push his luck with gamblers. Just what Han needed to be told, of course.

“Shut the hell up, Chewie! He fixed it!” Han snarled back, pointing behind him in the general direction of Lando, without turning around.

Chewie rolled his eyes, another guttural sound coming out of his mouth as Han glared daggers at him.

“Double the money and the ship, was it?” Qi'Ra's voice came to break up whatever fight was about to just start between them.

Han turned to look at her and the way she was staring at him with her arms crossed over her chest. He couldn't bare her look of utter displeasure, it made his throat close up and his chest ache. It felt like he was losing her all over again, as if the first time hadn't been way more than enough.

“He didn't win, he _cheated_!” Han knew he sounded like a whiny child, but it was the truth.

Qi'Ra rolled her eyes and shook her head “Right.” she commented as she started in the direction of the bar, leaving Han and Chewbacca behind.

“The hell?” Han groaned.

She was just going to let this slide? That was a serious matter, and Han knew he was right. He jogged after her, followed by a vexed Chewbacca, then started blurting out everything that was going through his mind.

“First of all!” Han shouted over the sound of droids brutally fighting against each other “There's _no_ way he could have had that green sylop! They'd all been played!”

Qi'Ra wasn't even looking at him, she was just staring down at the floor, making Han even angrier than he already was.

“Also!” he continued, pushing past aliens and droids as he strode ahead, even past Qi'Ra “Your guy, Captain Wonderful is so full of bantha crap that even–”

“Yoo-hoo~!”

Han froze, turning around on his heels only to see Captain Bantha Crap himself, hopping down a couple stairs wearing a damn _cape_ , and looking like a million cred–. No. He obviously looked like the piece of bantha crap he was, with that infuriatingly charm– _crappy_ grin on his face, that Han was truly itching to wipe off himself. One way or another.

“Where's my VCX?” Lando asked as he approached Han, arms spread expectantly.

While he did undoubtedly look even better up close, Han truly just wanted to headbutt him right in his nose. He couldn't help but notice he was a few inches shorter than Han, too, and he wasn't expecting that. Didn't match the size of his ego at all.

“I don't have it right here, now. It's in the shop.” Han tried to put up a believable excuse, instead of just breaking it to him that he had lied. “I'm getting some work done on–” he felt a grip on his shoulder, coming from behind, then Qi'Ra's voice chimed in.

“Lando.” she called out, gently pushing Han to the side and stepping in with a cordial smile.

Lando raised his eyebrows, looking pleasantly surprised to see her “Qi'Ra!” he exclaimed, taking her gloved hand in his, only to place a gallant kiss on the leather.

Han's expression dropped, and he just stared at the two interacting like they knew each other all too well.

“You look phenomenal. As always!” Lando complimented her.

“Well I knew I was gonna see you.” Qi'Ra replied.

Han wanted to puke, but instead he just turned around so that he didn't have to see the whole interaction unfold under his eyes. Not only Lando had to steal what Han had rightfully won, but he was also going to steal Qi'Ra right in front of him?

Chewbacca let out a small gurgle, placing a fuzzy hand on Han's shoulder, but he promptly batted it away. He was feeling too many things all at the same time, and he felt like he was about to explode. Anger and jealousy were the primary feelings that were eating him up, so much that he could feel his body tremble.

He felt so humiliated by that entire situation that he could barely contain his emotions. Chewbacca growled lowly by his side, even someone who didn't understand shyriiwook could get the gist of what he had just said to Han. Even if not the entire actual phrase, because unless you knew perfectly how Chewbacca interacted with Han, you'd just assume he was being incredibly soft to him.

_"You might be an idiot, but he's an asshole. Don't let it get to you too much."_ Chewie had said.

Han rolled his eyes before looking up at his friend "Aren't you a sweetheart." he said, sarcastic.

_"There's just no way to talk to you!"_ Chewbacca growled a bit louder this time, and Han saw Qi'Ra and Lando shoot them a confused look.

Maybe they should have just made it look like Han was asking Chewie to rip Lando's limbs off, or something. He couldn't help but smirk at the idea, that would have served him right. There's no cheating at cards without arms.

“We're not talking about the Felucia thing anymore,” Qi'Ra resumed their talk, slowly peeling her eyes off of Han and Chewie to go back to look at Lando “we're making a new move.”

Han's eyebrows drew together, not expecting the two to be actually talking about the Coaxium heist, he'd really thought he'd be hearing flirting of some sort between them. A strange sense of relief tickled his chest, and he looked up at Chewie with a surprised expression. Chewie let out his own taken aback, guttural sound, and went back to listen to Qi'Ra trying to convince Lando to use his ship in order to make the infamous Kessel Run.

“The Kessel Run's no easy spin. I'm gonna need half the take.” Lando said, nonchalantly, as he turned halfway to the bar to order his drink.

Was he serious? Half the take to just fly them to Kessel? Where did Qi'Ra find this pompous bastard?

“Ridiculous!” Han couldn't help but spit out, as soon as he heard the demand.

Lando looked at Han from over Qi'Ra's shoulder, pressed his finger against his nose and shushed him “Grown ups are talking.”

“Twenty-five percent.” came a voice from behind Lando, making him raise his eyebrows in bewilderment.

Han didn't think he'd ever be that happy to see Beckett stick his nose into anything more than he was in that very moment. Beckett was infamous, that much Han had understood by now, so he wasn't too surprised to know that Lando was somehow connected to one of the people that Beckett had taken out during his various jobs. Not to mention the fact that apparently Lando was intimidated by Beckett, his reputation and well... His murderous glare, so after arguing for literally one second about wanting forty percent of the share, Lando did agree to do the job for twenty-five percent of the loot.

Han was absolutely delighted by it, and couldn't help but smile like an idiot during the whole exchange. Lando deserved to be pushed around and threatened, after pulling that crap during the Sabacc game. He would have even snickered to himself if a sudden commotion coming from the fighting pit didn't catch Lando's attention.

That was when Han learned that Lando actually had a first mate to pilot his ship with, who was a droid. A very feisty one, too, that apparently found droid fights to be appalling and inhumane and wanted her kind to rebel against it, and not let humans use them for entertainment. She almost got into a physical fight with the ring master, but Lando was able to stop her on time.

Han couldn't help but finding her scary, probably as intimidating as Beckett, especially seeing how tall and ready to fight she was. So he raised his eyebrows when she asked who Han and the others were, she might have not had any facial expressions, but her tone was menacing enough.

“We're taking them to Kessel.” Lando filled her in.

“Oh, are we?” L3 – Or at least that was the name Han thought he had heard Lando call her by – asked, her tone was even more pungent than Lando's, and Han really wasn't surprised to know how bitter she must have been about having to follow him around. “And what if I don't elect to take them to Kessel?” she said as she started in the direction of the exit.

“Please don't start!” Lando cried out as he followed her outside.

“Damn, not even his droid can stand him. ” Han couldn't help but comment, eliciting a laugh from Chewie as they too went after the droid.

 

* * *

 

It was a long way to the place where Lando and L3 kept their ship, and it only gave more time to the droid to argue with her captain about being her own person and not wanting to follow Lando's orders. Again, Han couldn't really blame her, but at the same time he could tell that certainly they looked like they were meant to be partners, since their attitudes appeared to be kind of similar.

The ship was on the other side of a gate, where Lando kept it locked up so that no one would steal it. They had walked for such a long time that Han was starting to feel like this ship everyone was going on about didn't even exist, or if it actually did exist it must have been a piece of junk, since Lando wasn't exactly the most sincere person in the galaxy. Han had just made his feelings known to Beckett, when Lando stopped to dramatically introduce his ship, and Han's jaw nearly dropped to the ground.

The Millennium Falcon, was one of the most beautiful Corellian YT-3000 that Han had ever had the pleasure of standing close to. It was impeccably well kept, sure it had been modified and touched up here and there, but that definitely didn't take away from its beauty, and Han was literally itching to put his hands on the controls.

So maybe Lando was an insufferable, cocky bastard, who dressed like an idiot, but he did have a very good taste in ships. That Han really had to give to him. Also, apparently, he wasn't as well-liked and popular as he thought on Vandor, because someone had indeed impounded his ship.

“This is unbelievable! I'm definitely gonna have some words with someone about this.” Lando groaned as he stood by the landing gear, shaking his head.

Han couldn't help but snort at the whole situation, especially when Beckett offered to rid the Falcon of its restraint for an extra five percent off Lando's cut. If Han had thought things had gone bad for him back at The Lodge, he was definitely getting repaid by all the events happening right afterwards.

Upon entering the ship, Han couldn't help but stare at every little detail of it. He was enraptured by its beauty and the memories of entering a ship exactly like that one when he was just a child. It was from that very moment that his passion for ships started, and the moment he knew he wanted to become a pilot. The same dream as his father. How ironic.

He tried his best not to let melancholy get to him, but it wasn't easy. In a span of just a few hours Han's emotions had been shaken to the core, seeing Qi'Ra again, but seeing her so different and committed to something so unlike her had already done a number on him. His past was just not going to give him a break that day, was it?

Han didn't eavesdrop further in any other conversation that was happening around him, but when he saw Lando take off his cape and hand it to L3 and walk in the direction of the cockpit, he knew he had to follow him. He wanted to be in the control pod more than anything, and if he played his cards right, who knew... Maybe Lando was going to let him be his co-pilot, even for just a moment.

He waited for Lando to be settled in, then slowly entered the cockpit, marvelling at the beautiful view of the stars from the windowports. He took a look around, studying every single button and lever and announced “This is a Corellian YT-1300.” he smiled, a soft nostalgic look in his eyes.

Lando turned around briefly, just to catch a glimpse of him out of the corner of his eye

“Oh. You know your stuff.” this time his tone was different from the one he used during their game of Sabacc. It wasn't condescending, it was just genuinely impressed to see that Han actually knew what he was talking about.

“I've been on one before,” Han explained, looking at the ceiling of the pod and slowly stepping closer to the co-pilot seat “my dad used to work the line at the CEC plant before he got laid off.” there was a small pause “He built these. He wanted to be a pilot, but...”

“You uh... Close with your old man?” Lando asked. He didn't take his eyes off the controls, but Han wasn't really looking at him either.

“Not really...” Han shook his head.

“Yeah, me neither.” Lando confessed.

Han hadn't really asked for it, but he still appreciated the fact that he had decided to share something with him. He looked at him, pleasantly surprised as he went on to talk about his family, and sat on the chair next to him.

“My mom on the other hand, most amazing woman I've ever known.” Lando went on, a fond smile playing on his lips as he kept flying his ship.

Han raised his eyebrows. So Lando wasn't all about being cold and calculative, he actually had the rest of the human emotions spectrum. That was definitely nice to know. Not to mention how stupidly nice his smile looked under the blue lights of the galaxy.

Han had suddenly lost track of whatever thought he had in mind, as he just stared at Lando's features harden while he concentrated on flying. The whole cheating at cards thing had gone out the window, and the way in which Han's heart was hammering into his ears almost costed him his coronaries when L3 came shouting at him to get out of her seat. He definitely didn't want to be beaten to death by a droid, so he instantly obliged.

Damn, he really wanted to get a chance to speak more to Lando and maybe fly the Falcon with him, but no, he had to be brutally interrupted by a droid. Just his phenomenal luck.

He didn't leave the cockpit, though, he just stood behind the two as they went on bantering about circuits sticking and making sure that everything in the ship was working properly for the Kessel Run. As he listened to them, hands on his hips and furrowed eyebrows, something popped into his mind and he thought he'd voice his doubt.

“It's just a simple jump to hyperspace, and we're there. What's so tricky about that?” he asked, closely eyeing every movement Lando made.

“Plenty.” Lando began, “Can't plot a direct course to Kessel. You have to thread to the Si'Klaata Cluster, and then pass through the Maelstrom.”

Han pursed his lips, that did sound like a whole lot of trouble to get to a planet. He certainly wasn't willing to miss that.

“You done flirting? I'm still ready.” L3 deadpanned, and Han's cheeks immediately flushed a light shade of pink.

What really didn't help was Lando looking back to him with a lopsided grin.

“You might wanna... Buckle up baby.” Lando pointed to the seat right behind L3, and Han felt like he was about to catch on fire.

He stared for a few moments at Lando, unable to say anything in return, then slowly took his seat. He was still so shaken by the duo's words that he felt his stomach quiver, and he nearly missed the actual jump to hyperspace. Just nearly.

Damn, Lando _was_ charming. Han absolutely hated to admit that.

They were soon surrounded by a blue light, as they sped through space at the highest speed, and Han was completely enraptured by the view. That's what he had always dreamed, what he never had the chance to see and was willing to do for the rest of his life.

  
  


* * *

  


The course was settled, for a while there was nothing too interesting that Han could witness, so he decided to wander around the ship. It was massive, and Han never got the chance to explore one in its entirety, so now he had his chance. He kind of regretted leaving the cockpit, he was starting to like listening to Lando and L3's banter, it was hilarious and somehow... Homey.

Well, he wasn't going to be away for long, after all the course to Kessel was a long one, just like Lando had explained. Han had time to go back to them. Even if he realized that the next time it might not have been just them.

Upon entering the living quarters, Han found a very angry Chewie playing Dejarik with Beckett.

“Somehow I never get tired with winning.” Beckett sighed. To which Chewie replied by growling and trying to violently wipe off the small monsters projected on the the table “No, you can't wipe 'em off, they're holograms.”

Han scowled at them, and wondered if Beckett was aware of the possibility that Chewie could actually rip his extremities off, but at the same time he remembered that Beckett was one mean son of a blaster, too.

“Hey, hey, hey Chewie! Relax!” Beckett went on, but Chewbacca really wasn't liking that game, especially losing it.

Han decided not to get involved in it, especially since Qi'Ra was sitting there watching, and Han could barely hold her gaze. She didn't look disappointed or irritated anymore, but she wasn't even trying to make any sort of conversation with Han, so he was much better off leaving to continue his exploration of the Falcon.

As he strutted down the hallway, he saw another door and decided to take a peek inside, only to find out it was actually Lando's room. It had to be his room, the yellow bed linen and black pillows being the strongest indication. A smirk stretched his lips, and he decided to step inside to take a look at where Lando probably spent a lot of time, when he wasn't piloting.

The room was actually quite spacious, and every little detail, every object screamed Lando Calrissian. Han ended up swiping his fingers over a few surfaces, noticing that the place was impeccably clean, definitely something that wouldn't happen if the Falcon belonged to him. And to think he had pretty much won that ship, but couldn't claim any kind of ownership over it, because Lando cheated at cards.

He sighed, shaking his head at that thought, and upon spinning around to get out and move on to another room, something colorful caught his eye. Han squinted, tilting his head as he tried to figure out what in the galaxy he'd seen. He stepped towards what appeared to be another room inside Lando's quarters, and when he actually realized what that room actually was he nearly lost his shit.

It was a wardrobe. It was an entire room _filled_ to the brim with capes. How many capes does one man need? That was the funniest thing he'd ever seen that day, and he just couldn't stop laughing as he browsed through the entire collection of different colors and fabrics. That was just unbelievable.

Of course there weren't just capes around, there were shirts, pants, shoes, it was his entire, insanely eccentric, wardrobe, but Han had never seen so many kriffing capes. He kept searching for the craziest one he could find, be it because of texture or color, and decided that the golden one with a black leather collar would definitely look good on him.

Han took it off the rack, cursing under his breath when the hanger fell to the floor making more noise than firing a blaster, and just draped it over his own shoulders. It actually weighted more than Han was expecting, and maybe the collar wasn't exactly comfortable, but he just wanted to walk up to the mirror to see how it looked on him.

He snorted when he saw his own reflection, if he weren't for his unruly wavy hair, maybe he could have actually passed for a rich man. He proceeded to clasp the front of the cape to his neck, securing it so that he wouldn't fall, then he spun around and tried to make his best Lando impression.

“Oh _Hen_ , this cape? I won it, playing cards obviously! It's made entirely out of gold. I wore it that time I had to sell my-” Han paused, scrunching his face in thought, then cleared his throat as he resumed imitating Lando's voice “My moon, on the Bantha crap belt. Yeah, yeah, it was such a money pit. I had to give it up.”

“Is that how I sound?” Lando's voice actually came from behind him.

How the hell did he sneak up on him like that? Han should have seen him in the mirror. His eyes widened as he quickly spun on his heels to see an oddly pleased smirk curling Lando's lips. He was leaning against the doorframe, a hand on his hip as he eyed Han from head to toe.

“Pretty much, yeah.” Han put on an insufferable smile.

“You still bitter about losing my ship, huh?” Lando arched an eyebrow.

Oh, they were going to go down that way. Han was ready to play again.

“You're the one who was bitter about losing, so you had to cheat with an extra sylop.” Han tilted his head, the smile still plastered on his face.

Lando let out a laugh and pushed himself upright, folding his arms on his chest “Sure. Can you prove that?”

“Well, there are only two sylops in the bunch, and another one magically appeared when you most needed it.” Han simply explained, he spread his arms as if to make his point more obvious, and only when he heard the soft ruffling of fabric he remembered about the cape he was still wearing.

“You still can't prove that,” Lando smirked “We're not at The Lodge anymore.” he shook his head.

“Whatever, you're just a kriffing fraud.” Han muttered as he unclasped the cape, and just when he was about to shrug it off Lando took a couple long steps ahead.

“No don't take it off, it suits you.” Lando was still smirking, but he was way too close to Han this time.

He didn't know what to do, his cockiness had vanished all over again as if his brain had short-circuited. Was he making fun of him? Was Lando going to just murder him by strangling him with his own cape, so that Han wouldn't go around revealing that he cheated at Sabacc?

“Just…” Lando furrowed his eyebrows and reached for Han’s throat.

Or at least that was what Han’s brain registered, because just when he was about to block him, Lando actually fixed the cape on his neck and shoulders.

“There you go.” Lando’s lopsided smirk was back on his lips, and Han’s knees nearly gave out. “Gold suits you. Brings out your eyes **.”**

So maybe Qi’Ra was right after all, all those words that she’d used to describe Lando were even too fitting. Han was magnetically drawn to him, like a moth to a flame, it was something that was completely beyond him and it was the most confusing time of Han’s life. He was convinced about his feelings for Qi’Ra, he had never, not even for a moment thought about looking at someone else, nor wanting someone else the way he wanted her… Yet there he was, staring into a pair of dark, deep eyes, with parted lips, a dry mouth and ears almost deafened by the thundering of his heart.

“Gold suits me better in my pockets.” was all Han could say, a nervous smile stretching his slightly twitching lips.

“Oh, I’d cover you in gold, believe me.” Lando seemed to agree, his smirk blooming into a grin as he walked closer to Han.

Han backed up instinctively, he didn’t make it very far before his back was pressed against a wall, and one of Lando’s hand went up to rest right beside his head. Suddenly the crotch of Han’s pants felt extremely uncomfortable.  
  
“What do you want?” Han blurted out. He felt like his heart was about to rip out of his chest, and he didn’t know what to do about it.

“A rematch?” Lando raised an eyebrow, his eyes dropped to Han’s lips right after uttering those words.

He knew what was going to happen, he could feel that electricity from back at The Lodge again, jolting between them, bolting through Han’s entire body.

“So you can cheat again?” Han’s quick tongue was apparently still assisting him, but he had no idea if it would do so for much longer.

“There’s no losers in this game, _Hen_.” Lando shook his head, slowly, and Han’s breath caught in his throat.

Lando’s fingers pushed the collar of the cape away from the tender skin of Han’s neck, before ducking his head to plant an open mouthed kiss on it. Han’s entire body shuddered, as if he’d just been electrocuted.

“It’s Han.” he tried to keep himself from whimpering, with extremely poor success.  
  
“I know.” Lando whispered before cupping Han’s jaw, and capturing his lips with his own.

Han was so grateful to have an entire wall to support his weight, because in that moment he wasn't sure about how he was still standing. A hand went up to fist the back of Lando's shirt, the other tangled into his hair, he tilted his head to the side just enough to accommodate the kiss, moaning when he felt Lando’s tongue prying his lips open.

Lando's mustache and beard felt raw against his skin, but his lips and tongue were so soft and sweet. It was an intoxicating mixture that Han never knew he could enjoy so much.

Back at The Lodge, he had felt that spark of desire course through him, but he hadn't truly realized how much he wanted it. Hell, he _needed_ it. For three years he had yearned to have Qi'Ra in his arms again, three long, lonely years spent believing that his childhood girlfriend was all he could ever have, all he could ever need.

He had never considered the possibility that she might have moved on, never considered the possibility that young love isn't always forever, isn't always the only chance. But Lando was there, waking him up from a long slumber, showing him a new and very different way for him to feel alive again, to feel desired and longed for.

It was utterly exhilarating.

Han deepened the kiss, pulling Lando flush against his body. He could feel how hard Lando was against him, so he tentatively rocked his hips forward and heard a groan escape Lando's throat that was enough for him to lose his mind. Han felt Lando’s hands trying to reach for his chest, but got caught in the fabric of the cape three times before he growled in frustration, making Han laugh as he pulled back from the kiss.

“Fashionable, but impractical.” Han smirked as he unclasped the toggle.

“Don't insult my capes.” Lando arched an eyebrow, then proceeded to remove the garment off of Han’s shoulder.

“I'm just saying.” Han commented, right before Lando’s hand snaked up his shirt to feel the warm skin of his stomach. His hand felt almost cold against it, but Han was fairly sure it wasn’t the temperature that made him quiver.

“Still better than your ratty jacket.” Lando remarked, before his mouth went back to work on Han’s neck.

Whatever witty comeback Han had in store, it was completely obliterated from his memory once Lando’s lips and tongue traced his pale skin. His breath caught in his throat, and he had to grab onto Lando's shoulder for dear life when he began to suck hard on a tender spot where neck and shoulder met. He let out a long, strangled moan when Lando bit his already abused skin, and rocked his hips forward again.

Han’s body felt scorching, so he fumbled with his own jacket to try and peel it off without stopping Lando’s teeth and tongue on his neck. Lando helped him getting it off, then went back to attack Han’s mouth with a bruising, wet kiss, pushing his knee between Han’s legs.

Han didn't know whether he still had any sort of control over his own body, certainly not over the obscene sounds that Lando was tearing out of him. He began to rub his hips down onto Lando’s thigh, desperate for relief, and that was when Lando pulled back to look into Han’s hazed eyes to ask if he wanted to move to the bed. Han didn't even say anything, he just hooked his fingers to Lando's belt and dragged him towards the bed himself.

He didn't want this to be exclusively about him, he wanted to be completely immersed into this experience. He wanted to be a player as much as a spectator in this game, so he pushed Lando to sit on the edge of the bed and straddled his lap.

As soon as Han was in Lando's arms again, Lando’s hands slipped past the layer of cotton on Han’s back, all the way up to his shoulder blades, feeling his muscles and skin. Han worked his fingers carefully to undo the front of Lando’s shirt, even if his first instinct was to just rip it open, but knowing how obsessed with clothes the other man was, he didn't want to push his luck. That was something he wasn’t going to gamble with.

He slowly swept his fingers through the hair on Lando's chest, then ran both hands up his shoulders. It was such a different body from Qi'Ra’s lithe, feminine figure, and it was something that drew Han in like a magnet. The hardness of the muscles, the sturdiness of the structure, even the hair on his chest made his cock stir in his pants.

“Couldn't wait to get me naked, huh?” Lando commented, a malicious smirk playing on his lips.

“Says the one who couldn't wait to shove his tongue down my throat,” Han replied, matching Lando's smirk with one of his own. “Besides, you ain't naked, yet.”

Han dipped his head to silence any retort with a kiss, then softly nipped along his jaw, until he reached a sensitive spot behind his earlobe, that he started to flick his tongue against, until he felt Lando's nails dig into the flesh of his back. The whimpering making him want to give more pleasure, so he reached one of his hands between them to cup Lando's crotch.

“Shit!” Lando groaned, dropping his forehead against Han’s shoulder.

Han grinned. Maybe this time he was sort of winning the game. He began to rub his hand along the silhouette of Lando's erection through his pants, all the while sucking and biting the now even more sensitive skin of his neck. He felt Lando rock against his hand, panting and making small noises in the back of his throat, his nails scraping bluntly from Han’s shoulders to the small of his back.

“Han…” Lando cried out, using the right pronunciation again.

“Yeah?” Han replied as he began to undo Lando's belt with his free hand.

He ended up fumbling way too much with the buckle, so he had to pull back to actually take a look at it, but Lando blocked his vision again as he pressed his mouth against Han’s as soon as it appeared in his field of view.

Han chuckled against Lando’s lips, thoroughly enjoying how needy he was being, then finally managed to slip his hand down Lando’s pants, a small gasp of surprise leaving his own lips when he realized he wasn't wearing anything underneath.

“And here I thought you wore silk underpants or some crap…” Han couldn't help but mock him.

“I do wear underpants occasionally, I just had a hunch that today a hot Corellian boy would wanna take ‘em off, so I didn't even bother…” Lando smirked.

“Just shut up, Calrissian.” Han rolled his eyes, but a smug smile was playing on his lips anyway.

“It's _Captain_ Calrissian.” Lando corrected him.

“Not right now.” Han arched an eyebrow before he rubbed his thumb against the slit of Lando’s cock, and watched as Lando’s sly expression immediately dropped, making way to something completely different as he moaned.

Lando began to frantically try and tug Han’s shirt off, so he had to momentarily take his hand out of Lando’s pants to help him out. There was a small moment in which Lando took his time to stare at Han’s now naked chest and torso, almost with reverence. Han felt his cheekbones flush along with his chest and neck, but didn't move, freezing up when Lando’s fingers gently brushed across a few scars, battle scratches and small wounds, things he'd gotten either back in Corellia, or in the field.

It was the last thing he thought Lando would do once his shirt was off, but he didn't complain at all. Especially when he began to leave a trail of kisses from his shoulder to his collarbone. Han felt at ease again, and slung an arm around Lando’s neck before dipping his hand back into his pants, going back to pleasuring him.

Lando bucked in his hand as he started stroking, moaning softly against his neck. Han’s pants were feeling tighter and tighter, but he didn't complain. He twisted his fist a couple times as he pumped, then finally felt Lando’s hand moving to swiftly unbuckle his belt and reach down his pants as well. Han groaned, and Lando reared back to grin at him.

“You make the cutest sounds, baby.” Lando commented as he stroked him.

Han’s already burning skin flared into a deeper shade of red, he could feel it and he kind of hated it, because Lando’s praise could be enough to make him come. He resorted to burrowing his face into the crook of Lando's neck, inhaling his scent and trying to focus on the movements of his own fist, instead of letting Lando's touches overwhelm him completely.

But by everything sacred to humans and every other race, it was so kriffing hard when Lando was that good and Han was so touch starved and sex deprived. He wanted to last, he wanted to make Lando come before he did, because it was still somehow a competition to him, but he couldn't, it was beyond his will.

“Don't fight it, baby. It's alright.” Lando whispered in his ear, making him whimper out loud.

Han let go of Lando's cock and wrapped both arms around his neck, face still buried against his skin, too embarrassed to do otherwise, and just let Lando finish what he had started. It wasn’t just the stroking, it was the cold of the metal of his bejeweled hands, and the extra texture they added to Lando’s hand, it was driving him completely insane. Han’s hips stuttered with each of the last few strokes it took for him to come undone in Lando’s hand and between their stomachs.

Lando kept twisting and jerking his fist while Han moaned and rode out his orgasm, and held him close during the aftershocks. He didn't know for how long he kept silent, but he was despising the sound of is own ragged breath as he tried to even it out.

“That was pretty pathetic, ‘msorry.” Han finally spoke, tearing himself away from Lando’s arms and avoiding to meet his eyes.

“What?” Lando asked, sounding completely dumbfounded.

Han still didn't look at him, and moved to get off of his lap.

“What the hell? Where are you going?” Lando caught his arm, not wanting him to get up.

Han let Lando keep him seated on his lap, but didn't say anything. He was suddenly so ashamed of himself for having lasted so little, he couldn't even begin to explain.

“You didn't want me to touch you?” Lando asked, and there was a hint of guilt and fear in his voice that made Han look at him right away.

“No! I- Crap… Of course I wanted this, it's just…” Han let out a frustrated sigh, and threw his head back.

“Is it because you came quickly?” Lando kept pressing, clearly having no issues at all with talking about sex.

Han wanted to die.

“Oh my God, don't say it out loud.” Han covered his face with both hands.

“What's wrong with that?” Lando asked, his voice an unusual higher pitch “It was really hot, actually…”

Han scowled and peeked from behind his hands, still not moving them away from his face.

“Stop being an asshole.” he deadpanned. The last thing he needed was to be made fun of.

Han heard a rustling sound, as Lando probably wiped his still wet hand onto the bed or something, and then grabbed both of Han’s wrists to make him show his flushed face.

“I'm being serious,” Lando said in a reassuring sound, then moved closer to Han’s ear in order to whisper “the way you were squirming and moaning in my lap nearly made me lose it, too.”

A shiver ripped through Han’s body upon hearing those words, Lando’s lips were so close that they were tickling his ear. Han felt Lando’s hands slide down along his sides, stopping on his hips and giving them a gentle squeeze.

“I told you, there's no losers in this game, baby.” Lando went on, and his husky whisper was enough to get Han going again, but this time he was going to go all out.

Han slipped back off of Lando’s lap, catching him by surprise when he sunk to his knees and tugged Lando’s pants down. Lando lifted his hips just enough to accommodate the movement, then bit down on his bottom lip as he watched Han settle between his thighs.

Suddenly the eyes that were looking down at him were scorching hot on his skin, and Han instantly thought that maybe he was in over his head. As thrilling as this was, he had never really done it before, not to a man for certain, but not even to Qi'Ra. As a matter of fact, Qi'Ra had never done it to him, either.

Sex had always been rather simple and rushed between them, and that was when they weren't being pushed around by the White Worms and actually had the time. Otherwise they'd share kisses as they'd huddle together in a small, not so clean bunk, before falling asleep in exhaustion.

What was happening with Lando was completely new territory, and he really didn't want to keep looking like an idiot.

"Hey..." Lando's voice came to him like in a dream, distant and somewhat muffled. "You alright?"

Han looked up at him instinctively, he wasn't really listening, but he could see the crease between his well kept eyebrows and the worry behind his dark hues.

"I'm fine..." Han nodded, a tiny little smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

It was just another challenge, right? And he'd been doing quite well for the time being. If he stopped ruminating over everything and kept doubting his every action like that, he was never going to fully enjoy the moment.

Lando's face came closer to his as he leaned down to press their lips together, and Han's heart skipped a beat for some reason. His little smile grew wider against Lando's lips, and he had the courage to wrap his fingers around Lando's arousal again, making him gasp softy into the kiss.

He began to pump his fist, slowly, agonizingly so, pressing his thumb against the slit every time he reached the tip, until Lando's jaw fell open and he rested his forehead against Han's. He took that as his cue to finally duck his head and replace his thumb with his tongue.

"Oh, shit–" he heard Lando grumble out, and that was definitely the reaction Han was going for.

He took his time to lick the slit again, eliciting a long hiss from Lando, then wrapped his lips around the tip. Han didn't think the taste would be as bitter as it was, but the sounds Lando was making, and the sudden tug he had given to his hair were enough to send him into a state of euphoria.

He had fantasized about getting head quite often, all those daydreams – and actual dreams, where he'd wake up very hot and bothered – somehow never truly involved Qi'Ra, because he'd always seen her as too pure for that sort of thing. Still, he had always wondered how good it could have felt to have a warm tongue and mouth pleasuring him, but now that he was the one kneeling between a man's thighs, sucking him off like the sleaziest of harlots, Han thought that giving head probably felt as good as receiving it.

After starting off slow, hesitantly, with small flicks of the tongue, Han had set up a pace as he sucked, a steady one. Lando's hand felt warm on the back of his head, and the firm grip on his hair was driving him crazy, almost as much as his deep throaty moans. He felt Lando's hips bucking up to match the bobbing of his head, so he placed his hands on Lando's thighs to keep him still and not be gagged.

"Han..." Lando whined. Again, using the correct pronunciation.

"Hmmm?" Han hummed around his cock, and the vibrations made Lando groan and grip his hair a little tighter.

"I'm gonna–" he tried to finish uttering his warning, but another moan cut him off.

Yes. That was exactly what he wanted. Han's pace quickened, but Lando pulled on his hair harder, making him whine in pain.

Was he trying to stop him or something?

Han pulled back and shot Lando a confused look.

"Come back here." Lando breathed out as he pulled Han back into his lap.

Han was still completely puzzled, up until Lando's hand was back around his cock, and his now cold lips were on his jaw.

"Together."

Han hadn't even noticed he had grown hard again and Lando's hand was already stroking him in a firm and quick rhythm that would have finished him off right away, so Han wrapped his own fist around Lando's cock and began to pump just as fast.

Han’s entire body felt like it was on fire all over again, and he dropped his forehead against Lando's with a long, shaky moan. They were both rocking and writhing against one another, a thick sheen of sweat coating their skin and making it glisten into the blue light of the room, then Lando's face warped and his hips started stuttering as he came between them. Han followed right after, groaning and using his free hand to pull Lando into a bruising kiss, breathing harshly through his nose as they both rode out their orgasms by biting and sucking onto each other's lips.

As they came down from the high, the kiss became softer as they both felt their bodies relax, and Han pulled back to catch his breath. He felt tired and satisfied, but now that his orgasm had died down he sort of felt a little awkward and definitely too exposed. His first reaction would have been to collapse, boneless against Lando, craving for his heat and touch, but if he really thought about it he would have looked desperate as hell.

"Damn, _Hen_..." Lando said as soon as he caught his breath, smirking when Han rolled his eyes. Of course he'd tease him again after coming, what an idiot. "And here I thought you'd never done this before."

Han stiffened at the statement. Of course he had had sex before, but not with another man. Yet there Lando was, probably complimenting him in a weird way, or just trying to rip a confession out of him.

"You underestimate me far too much, Calrissian." Han raised an eyebrow, and a tiny smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

Lando's own smirk dropped and he went in for another searing kiss that caught Han completely by surprise.

"I had thought about kissing your stupid smirk off of your face during the whole Sabacc game." Lando said in a low, hoarse voice that went right down to Han’s crotch.

This was ridiculous, he could have been ready to go again just because of Lando's stupid voice and his stupid teasing. Han was absolutely screwed.

"And when you kept smiling while I was in your mouth, I thought–" Lando went on, but Han was already on the verge of growing hard again, and that would have been way too much.

"You talk too much. And _I'm_ saying that. I never shut the kriff up." Han said as he pressed the palm of his hand against Lando's lips, successfully shutting him up.

Lando furrowed his eyebrows, then grinned as soon as Han removed his hand.

"Am I making you nervous?"

"What? No. Shut up." Han looked down at his lap to avoid Lando's eyes, but exclaimed upon seeing the mess they had made. "Shit..."

"Wait..." Lando stretched towards a drawer set next to the bed, and fished out a box of tissues. "Here."

Certainly Lando was a prepared man when it came to sex, Han couldn't deny it. Before he could do anything else, he tucked himself back into his underwear and zipped his pants up.

"Thanks." he mumbled as he pulled out a few tissues and began to wipe himself up, still not moving out of Lando's lap.

A thought had started buzzing in his head, as he threw a couple glances towards the closed door of the bedroom. Lando had probably noticed it, because he raised an eyebrow and smirked.

"Don't worry, the room is soundproof." he tilted his head slightly to the side "I got some work done, like you may remember."

Han couldn't really help but wonder how many people had slept with Lando in that very room, and how he was probably just one of many. The thought sort of bothered him, even if he really had no reason to. At least no one had heard them, still the fact that they were the only two missing could have been still very well suspicious.

"Good, because you've been loud enough for us to get busted right away." Han teased, standing up to collect the rest of his clothes and wear them again.

Lando let out a loud scoff as he pulled his pants back up "I was the loud one? You were constantly making noises, even with your mouth full."

"You were a lot louder when my mouth was full, baby." Han smirked, shrugging on his jacket.

Lando didn't finish buttoning up his shirt, and stood up "I could have you screaming in just a couple minutes if I wanted." he said, stepping closer to Han.

"Oh, could you?" Han teased, but in reality a shiver had just ran up his spine.

He was ready for Lando to show him what more he could do, his hands were itching to be all over Lando again, just like his own skin was asking to be felt again. Lando took one last step, cutting every inch that separated them, his body was pressed against Han's one more time. Han's breath hitched in his throat, the thrill of the anticipation made his heart race into his chest.

Suddenly, a harsh, metallic banging on the door made both of them jump, breaking the spell and bringing them back to reality.

"Lando! You presumptuous, pompous, useless human being!" L3's menacing voice boomed from the other side of the door.

"Son of a–" Lando growled, and began to frantically button up his shirt.

Han truly hoped that the droid wouldn't just barge into the room, but at the same time he really couldn't believe the awful timing she had. That was the second time she’d interrupted them, and this was much worse than earlier.

"You think because you're my _organic overlord_ you can just leave me to pilot alone? And with a bunch of strangers on board?" L3 went on.

At least she didn't bust down the door, like Han feared.

"You're insufferable! I'll be right with you, just go back to the cockpit!" Lando snarled as he glared at the door.

"You better get your bubble butt to the control pod in less than ten minutes!" L3 added.

Lando was about to reply, but the sound of her heavy footsteps as she stormed off was clearly audible. He turned back to Han, who had begun to feel very awkward by that point. The magic was over and the moment had ended, so all that was left for them to do was leaving the quarters and go back to the rest of the crew. If it could even be called a crew.

"You, uh–" Lando began gesturing to Han’s neck. Han cocked an eyebrow and touched the part he had just pointed out "Yeah, my bad."

Oh. The hickeys. Right.

"Shit!" Han gasped, and moved quickly to check himself into the mirror "I could just..." he fixed the collar of his shirt and jacket so that they'd cover the bruised skin.

"I'd better get going, you just leave when you're ready, alright?" Lando said.

Han turned to look at him, and he noticed that he was luckier to have his neck well covered by the collar of his shirt.

"Yeah, alright." Han muttered.

Lando gave a curt nod, then opened the door and left the room.

Han felt... He didn't know. There was no way of defining the way he was feeling, because he was experiencing too much all at the same time.

He took a look around, the bedsheets were crumpled were Lando had been sitting with him in his lap, dirty wipes scattered on the floor. The cape he had been wearing was lying in the doorway of the cape room, discarded and forgotten, where Lando had left it after taking it off of him. The thought made him smile, somehow.

Han decided to at least tidy up what they'd left behind, so that he could still have some time alone with the storm in his brain and the thundering in his chest.

 

* * *

 

Playing for time was starting to be too much, Han was basically holing himself up inside the captain's quarters and avoiding to go back to reality, and the rest of the people who were traveling with him to Kessel.

He wasn't looking forward to facing any of Beckett's words of cynical wisdom, nor Qi'Ra's inquiring eyes. It wasn't like anyone could possibly know for sure what had happened between he and Lando, and anyway it shouldn't have been any of their business, but still. Maybe he was the only one making this out to be a bigger deal than it actually was.

Han sucked in a deep breath and took one last look into the mirror to see if any mark on his skin was showing, then finally stepped out of the bedroom.

"What were you doing in there?" Qi'Ra's voice came sudden and completely unexpected, and nearly gave him a heart attack.

Of course she'd just pop up immediately, it was Han's spectacular luck, after all.

"Me?" Han asked, trying not to look as freaked as he actually was. "What are _you_ doing here?"

"I asked you first." Qi'Ra furrowed her eyebrows and crossed her arms across her chest.

Han rested both his hands on his hips and shrugged a shoulder "I got lost, I thought this was the bathroom."

He saw Qi'Ra wrinkle her nose, and for a moment he thought she was going to ask why he smelled like sweat and other bodily fluids. He didn't know how Lando had gotten away with it, but he had somehow managed to look almost as impeccable as always.

"Well it's on the opposite side of the ship." she said "That's Lando's room."

Han's eyebrows drew together, and an uncomfortable weight settled onto his chest. She definitely knew this ship too well for having just stepped on it for the first time, she had likely been there before. She had probably seen the inside of that bedroom before, but he didn't feel like making another scene in front of her.

"Yeah, I figured. Too many capes." Han replied with an insincere smile.

"Yeah, he's probably got more clothes than I do." Qi'Ra smirked.

"Yeah, probably." Han repeated "Why were you coming into this room, anyway?" he asked, attempting to hide the burst of jealousy that was spreading through him.

He tried really hard to bat away the image of her crawling over Lando in his bed, that had instantly creeped up in his mind.

"I was actually looking for you, Han. I wasn't interested in the room." Qi'Ra explained, a confused look in her eyes "Though I wouldn't mind trying on a cape or two." she smiled, her eyebrows jumping up in a very expressive manner.

Han swallowed thickly. He wasn't expecting that answer, but at the same time a few extremely vivid flashbacks of making out with Lando while wearing one of his capes flickered in his brain.

"You wanted to talk to me?" Han asked, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. "There's so much I'd like to tell you about all the time we spent apart." he unconsciously took a step ahead, closing the distance that separated them. “And I wanna know everything that happened to you, since Corellia.”

Qi'Ra's smile faded a little "I... Don't think I can tell you that much."

"I missed you. I worried about you. I felt so awful knowing I'd left you behind." Han shook his head, and brought his hands to rest on Qi'Ra's arms.

"I missed you too,” the ghost of a smile played on her lips, and Han liked to think it was a melancholic one “but you don't need to worry anymore. I’m here, I’m well and I can look after myself." Qi'Ra nodded, her arms still folded underneath her bosom.

There it was again, that coldness and distance in her eyes, in her tone of voice. It hurt Han so much. He wondered what had happened to her to make her change as much as she did, but he knew he'd never get an answer. Not yet, at least.

"I can't help it, I'm wired that way." Han rubbed his thumbs softly over Qi'Ra's arms "I thought of you everyday."

"We should get going," Qi'Ra said, gently taking Han's hands off of her "we got a plan to study."

Han grabbed her hand as soon as she started in the direction of the living quarters, to stop her.

"Why do you keep brushing me off like this?" Han asked, his chest clenching as he waited for the answer.

Qi'Ra turned to look at him in the eyes, there was an unreadable light inside of her own hues that made Han's stomach ache.

"Let's just go. Don't make this harder than it is." Qi'Ra sighed, but didn't wriggle her hand out of Han's grip. A softness from the past returned in her eyes, and Han felt his throat knot up.

He would have argued, he would have wanted to keep pushing and prodding but that would have only made things worse. He didn't say anything, not even his face was capable of making any sort of expression, so he just followed her in silence.

Back in the living quarters Chewbacca was still growling at the holograms on the Dejarik table, something about them being useless and unfair little critters that he wanted to smash into a pulp, while Lando was arguing about having to leave the Falcon too exposed to enemy fire at the Kessel mines with Beckett.  
  
"It's gonna be fine, your damn ship won't get totalled. We go in, out, don't cause more trouble than necessary. Trust me." Beckett said in a tone that indicated he may have been repeating this for who knows how many times now.  
  
"You don't know that, anything could happen. We're still leaving it right at the entrance of the mines." Lando rolled his eyes.  
  
"There's literally nowhere else to leave it. It's the only way." Beckett replied.  
  
"What's going on here?" Qi'Ra asked with a frown and a tiny, confused smile.  
  
Lando and Beckett turned to look at them, but didn't say anything right away. Lando's eyes met Han's, and at first he couldn't tell why he would randomly glare at him like that. Then Qi'Ra let go of his hand, and Lando's eyes followed that movement for just a moment, before going back to look at Beckett.  
  
Han’s chest ached all of a sudden.  
  
"He's just moaning about having to leave the ship in plain sight. He's afraid of the damages." Beckett replied, annoyance lacing his words.  
  
"It's gonna be fine, Lando. Don't worry." Qi'Ra reassured him "I know how much you love your ship, but you have to trust us."  
  
Lando didn't say anything at first, and just looked one last time at Han before standing up. Han's heart was beating a lot faster than necessary, and his stomach was twisting in an unpleasant way.  
  
"Again, I don't agree with all this, yet I have no other choice but to accept it." Lando finally said, then went back to the cockpit.  
  
“Dude's got a problem." Beckett raised his eyebrows as soon as Lando was out of earreach.  
  
"He's very protective of his prized possessions. Especially this ship." Qi'Ra shrugged a shoulder, then went to pour herself something from the wet bar.  
  
"Oh, great idea." Beckett said as he stood up to do just the same.  
  
Han was still standing in the middle of the room, flabbergasted, he didn't even have the brains to arch an eyebrow at the only thing Beckett had agreed with Qi'Ra on.  
  
So maybe he was reckless and over-confident in certain aspects of his life, he often acted before thinking and found himself in the worst of situations, but he wasn't stupid. Maybe a little dense, and a tad gullible, but he really wasn't enough of a fool not to see that he had gotten himself into something pretty uncomfortable.  
  
Lando might have been upset about the Falcon possibly getting damaged, but the way he had glowered at Han had nothing to do with his beloved ship. For a moment he had contemplated following him to the cockpit, but then again he wouldn't have known what to say to him. Not to mention L3 would have been there, possibly ready to smack the hell out of him.  
  
Or maybe... Maybe Han was just imagining everything. Lando was just concerned and angry about the ship he loved so much, and Han had nothing to do with it. After all... Wasn't Han just one of the many people he'd slept with?  
  
He was worrying too much.  
  
"Han! Why don't you join us?" Beckett's voice made him snap back to reality. "You look worried."  
  
"Huh?" Han raised his eyebrows quizzically, turning to the wet bar. "I ain't worried."  
  
"There's a bottle of Corellian whiskey." Qi'Ra smiled at him, and for a moment everything seemed to fall back into place as their gazes met again.  
  
Han ignored the way Beckett glared at Qi'Ra and smirked back at her "Do we have time to finish it?"  
  
"Don't push it, flyboy. We might still be far away, but not that much. We need you as sharp as a needle." Beckett scolded him.  
  
"I can take it." Han's smirk increased, and he walked up to the bar to get his own glass of whiskey.  
  
Chewbacca growled loud and demanding, making everyone jump. He'd been so preoccupied with the damn holograms that Han had almost forgotten he was there.  
  
"Of course you're drinking too, Chewie. Come here." Han beckoned him with a gesture of his hand, then turned around to grab another glass for him.

 

  
  
* * *

 

  
  
Han had no idea for how long he'd been out, he didn't even know where Beckett was but he could at least see Chewie sprawled on one of the yellow leather couches. Another thing he couldn't quite wrap his mind around was when he had crawled into the guest quarters along with Qi'Ra, who was sleeping peacefully by his side.  
  
She still looked like that young street thief from Corellia, filled with hopes of a great future with the man she loved. Han couldn't help but smile fondly, he didn't know what had happened after they had started drinking, but Qi'Ra didn't look as disheveled as he would have liked her to, so he guessed... Not much. Or at all.  
  
He would have wanted to wake her up, but at the same time he kind of preferred to watch her sleep for a while longer. Keep that image from the past untouched. Han carefully rolled out of the bunk, and wondered how the hell they'd managed to both fit in there, and how he hadn't just toppled over in his sleep.  
  
"Oh kriff..." Han croaked as soon as he was on his feet, squeezing his eyes and pressing a hand against the right side of his head.  
  
Beckett might have been right about going easy on the liquor, but did Han ever listen? Absolutely not. Even if he regretted not doing so very much, in that moment. He sucked in a deep breath, then went once again to the wet bar, this time to pour himself a nice glass of water.  
  
He heard voices coming from the cockpit, one of which sounded like Beckett's, so that definitely located him. It was almost surreal to be inside the Falcon with dimmed lights, everything looked even calmer and cozier. Even while Chewbacca made weird throaty noises in his sleep, and L3 made very loud remarks about the disparity between human and droid rights.  
  
He decided that those sounds were too loud for his throbbing head, and that he definitely needed a trip to the bathroom. This time for real.  
  
He staggered a little in the direction of the hallway, and it totally caught him by surprise, he was starting to think that maybe Beckett had spiked his drinks or something just to make it worse and prove a point. The lights of the rest of the ship were still bright and they made Han's eyes hurt, he was seriously regretting his choices.  
  
He shouldn't have drank just to silence his head, but that was always his favorite solution to most of his problems and aches. Especially since he was stuck with his problems on a spaceship. Quite literally. There wasn't a liquor potent enough to make them go away, or set him free.  
  
But hell, he wished he had never woken up in time to catch Lando getting into his quarters, just when he was looking for the bathroom. Those coincidences were starting to get on his nerves. Wasn't he with Beckett and L3, anyway?  
  
"Who's flying the ship, if you're here?" Han's mouth opened automatically, not even giving him the chance to shut the hell up.  
  
If looks could kill, Han would have been already dead. So very dead. Lando glared at him as he pushed a button to open the door to his room.  
  
"I'll pretend like I didn't even hear you." Lando deadpanned.  
  
"I thought you didn't let anyone else touch your ship." Han continued.  
  
He didn't know why he was keeping this up, but it was mostly to provoke some sort of reaction from Lando that wasn't just a dismissive glare.  
  
"L3 is piloting. I need some rest." Lando said as he made his way into his room.  
  
Han managed to slip inside as the door was sliding shut. He didn't know what he was doing, but he did what his guts were telling him to do.  
  
"What the hell?" Lando growled "Get out."  
  
"That's not what you told me earlier." Han cocked an eyebrow.  
  
"Get. Out." Lando repeated, his tone threatening as he walked up to Han. "I don't need you here, I just need to sleep."  
  
Those words felt like a slap in the face, and Han physically recoiled from them by taking a step back. He didn't even know why they hurt him as much as they did.  
  
"Right. You already got what you wanted." Han replied, trying to sound and look unbothered by his statement.  
  
"Right." Lando echoed as he looked at him with flared nostrils and gritted teeth.  
  
Han didn't waste any more breath and just left the room, then stomped in the direction he was supposed to be going from the start.  
  
Once he was inside the bathroom he slammed one of his fists against the wall, feeling like the biggest idiot in the entire galaxy.  
  
An idiot for caring so much about how someone he had just met would belittle having completely casual sex with him. An idiot for obsessing so much over Qi'Ra when she clearly didn't want to go back to what they were. An idiot for letting two different people screw with his mind at the same time, and right before an important job that could have costed him his life.  
  
He really couldn't believe his stupidity. He didn't even want to come out of that bathroom anymore.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get a lot more emotional and intense.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I had mentioned in the tags, the course to Kessel is gonna take way longer than necessary for scientific purposes, don't drag me. 
> 
> I hope you'll enjoy this second and last chapter!

After four days of traveling through space they still hadn't arrived to Kessel, and they had to stop on a couple small planets for extra fuel and provisions, even if those planets were so poor that they could barely find all they needed for the journey. Still it was nice to get out of the ship at times, no matter how big the Falcon was, being all forced to spend time with each other in a closed space at all times could have resulted in a bloodbath.

Han had noticed that Qi'Ra and L3 had somehow bonded, and he often caught them chatting quietly in a corner, and when they were on land L3 would accompany Qi'Ra while Lando stayed behind on the ship. He figured maybe it was nice to have the company of another girl in a ship full of men, but it did prevent him from spending time with her.

After getting drunk on Corellian whiskey together and sharing a bed for a long nap, things hadn't exactly gotten awkward between them, but they certainly hadn't improved. Every time he tried to be alone with her either she would leave or L3 would appear out of nowhere to interrupt whatever was going on. By that point though, Han had started to give up trying to draw something out of her, anything that ranged from how she left Corellia to going back to what they were.

As for his interactions with Lando... Well, they hadn't been great. They had fought a couple of times, nothing too dramatic, but they got on each other nerves very easily and for extremely futile matters. Beckett and Chewbacca were usually the ones to break things up, L3 would make witty remarks all through the fight, and Qi'Ra would just give Han an exasperated look before he could leave whatever place the fight had broken out in.

When the fights had happened, though, Han had always needed a very long time to calm down. It wasn’t just rage that coursed through his body, but also that kind of ugly misery that punched a hole through his chest and one in his stomach, and he couldn’t for the life of him bounce right back from it. He hated fighting with him, he _loathed_ it, but there seemed to be no escaping it.

At one point, Beckett had to physically drag Han in a remote corner of the ship only to tell him that if he had been worried about him trusting Qi'Ra too much, now he was worrying that his constant fights with Lando would have been the true downfall of the entire Coaxium operation.

"You gotta sort this out, kid. Dryden is gonna kill us, and I won't get killed over whatever is going on between you and Lando." Beckett snarled between gritted teeth "I'll kill you before Crimson Dawn does, mark my words."

Han had listened to him with his eyes pinned to the floor, feeling his stomach twist painfully with the awareness that what Beckett was saying was right. The plan they had come up with might have been a great one, but when dealing with powerful criminals, no plan was perfect, and if he and Lando weren't able to cooperate it could have seriously endangered everyone involved.

"I will. There's no need to kill anybody." Han muttered.

"Good. Now go, we ain’t too far away from Kessel anymore." Beckett dismissed him, before going back to the living quarters.

Han knew Lando was in his own quarters, L3 didn't need any sleep, so she was always the one to pilot on her own when everyone else was asleep. He started in the direction of the room, feeling his heart beating in his throat and ears. He didn't like the situation he was in either, he didn't like the constant arguing with Lando, just like he couldn't stand lying awake at night trying to remember what it had felt like to have Lando's hands and lips on his skin.

Maybe they were going to fight again, one last time, but Han didn't care anymore. He only cared about doing the job, getting his money and be done with all of this. He stood in front of the door, his fist hovering it for several moments before he actually knocked.

"Who is it?" came Lando's muffled voice.

"It's Han." he said simply. There was no time for jokes or anything else, he didn't even have the will to make any.

"Good for you. Go away." Lando replied right away.

Han sighed, letting his eyes fall shut and taking in a sharp breath. He needed to stay calm and not lash out. Not yet, at least.

"Lando, _please_..." Han said softly, he was exhausted. "I just wanna talk."

"There's nothing to say, we spoke plenty earlier." Lando went on "Now leave me alone."

They had, he was right. They'd been at each other's throat since morning, and it had only culminated in Han calling Lando a few names that he actually didn't even mean. He had been an immature, hurtful piece of crap, and he would have deserved the punch that Beckett had been quick enough to stop. Not that Lando had been making it easy for him, chastising and patronizing him like he was a twelve years old every single time he dared voicing an opinion or doubt.

"I wanna apologize, c'mon. Let me in." Han insisted, his tone was still soft and sincere.

There was no answer from the other side of the door, and it made Han want to kick it down. He should have known that Lando would have been a nightmare to deal with, he shouldn't have forgotten too easily about how much of a sore loser he'd been that damn day on Vandor.

All the charm, the seduction... The heated kisses and scorching hot touches. It was all a fraud. Lando had only gotten what he had wanted from him and then he had thrown him away like an object he no longer had any use for.

The thing that bothered Han the most was how he had gotten stuck into his head, how’d seeped underneath his skin. He hated it so much.

"Whatever, I couldn't care less anyway. .." Han grumbled under his breath and turned around to leave.

He wasn't afraid of Beckett anyway, nor Dryden. He knew he could escape both of them, just like he had escaped the Empire. They could both kiss his ass.

He was just halfway down the hallway when he heard the sound of the door sliding open, and froze on the spot. He turned around and saw Lando staring at him as he leaned against the doorframe.

"You gonna come in?" he asked.

Han didn't move for a few seconds and just looked at him, as his jaw clenched and his hands balled into tight fists by each of his sides. He didn't think Lando would cave in, but he guessed that hearing an apology and gloating about it later had its appeal.

Han walked back to the room and Lando disappeared past the threshold again. The moment he was inside the room he felt a tug to his stomach, his eyes went to the cape room, then to the bed and he immediately regretted his decision.

"So?" Lando turned around, folding his arms across his chest.

Han didn't know what to say. He genuinely didn't. He probably shouldn't have gone to talk to him before thinking this through. He tried to buy himself some time by closing the door and resting back against it, staying as far away from Lando as he could.

"I'm sorry..." was all Han could manage to say, and felt incredibly stupid afterwards.

"That's it?" Lando let out a hollow, humorless laugh "Wow. That was real heartfelt."

Han really wanted to punch him, but he still needed to refrain from acting out on impulse.

"Look, we've been awful to each other this whole time. We gotta give it a rest for the sake of the job." Han managed to remain calm and go straight to the core of the issue. There was no point in dancing around it.

Lando shrugged "Fine. We've almost arrived to Kessel, anyway."

"Fine." Han echoed, and rested his hands on his hips, looking away for a few moments.

He could have left. He had earned the truce he had come for, but he simply couldn't. His body wasn't cooperating.

"You're the one who started this, anyway." Han had the strength to continue, his eyes returning to Lando’s, at last.

"Oh, was I?" Lando pointed to himself, then laughed again "You're the one who sat at that Sabacc table and tried to take the Falcon from me!"

"I won her fair and square! You're the one who cheated!" Han retorted, raising his voice.

"You can't prove that crap, I don't cheat!" Lando raised his voice as well, and took a couple steps ahead.

"You're the one who kissed me!" Han took a step ahead as well, as he fired back. Once again his mouth had been faster than his mind.

Lando's face warped in an unreadable expression, and stopped walking towards him "You're... The one who was snooping around _my_ room, trying on _my_ capes."

Everything was coming back to Han once again, his mind could replay everything that had happened in that room step by step. It hurt, but at the same time he would have wanted to do it all over again. He wanted Lando so much, even if he had just used him.

He despised himself.

"You got what you needed though, didn't you?" Han said, his words tasted bitter on his tongue.

Lando grimaced at that and averted his gaze. Han furrowed his eyebrows as he stared at him, wishing really hard that he could read his mind, know what was going on in that thick skull of his.

"Right." Lando said at last, still not looking at him. "But so did you."

Han opened his mouth but nothing came out. That wasn't the reply he was expecting, he thought Lando was going to keep up the exchange, he thought he'd push the blame on Han again, but he didn't. Han didn't know how to reply to that, so he pressed his lips together again, keeping quiet.

"Look..." Lando paused, letting out a breath before his eyes finally met Han's again "I won't fight you anymore. We just stick to the plan, I get my share and then I'm off to the other side of the galaxy again."

He didn't know why he felt a cold ache in his chest upon hearing those words, but they did feel like a blow of some sorts.

"You go back to being a _sportsman_?" Han tried to make it sound like he was making fun of him, but his voice broke in his throat, betraying what he was feeling.

"That's what I am." Lando spread his arms for emphasis, a small smile playing on his lips.

Han would have preferred to hear sarcasm dripping from Lando's words again, instead of that unsettling calm. He didn't even like how much this sounded and felt like a goodbye, when they clearly still had time to spend together, whether they wanted it or not.

"Should I..." Han pointed behind him to the door.

Now that he was there and they weren't fighting, Han really didn't want to leave. He wanted to put his arms around Lando, try to figure out if this entire situation could somehow change. Then again, if he thought about how unsuccessful he'd been with Qi'Ra the whole time, nothing good would have come out of this, either.

"We're getting to Kessel in the morning..." Lando said all of a sudden, his tone was much more stern, and it threw Han off for some reason "And now that I really think about it, we could die. If not because of Crimson Dawn, it could be the Pykes, or the Coaxium. Or even the course back."

Was that what Lando had been thinking the whole time? Han did know that underneath the petty surface there was a softness that Lando didn't really broadcast, yet he thought he'd been utterly confident about this mission since the very beginning.

"Nothing's gonna happen to us," Han reassured him with a small, defiant laugh "not on my watch."

Lando rolled his eyes, but a smile did escape from his control nonetheless. Han couldn't help but feeling pretty proud of himself.

"Shut up, _Hen_." Lando shook his head, and weirdly enough, him mispronouncing Han's name after four days, made Han's chest flutter "Go get some rest."

Han didn't want to go. His mind was telling him not to give in to the butterflies in his stomach, or the warmth in his chest, because even if Lando was beautiful, he didn't see him as more than a meaningless romp in that very room. Yet his heart was racing in his ribcage, his every fiber was yearning for Lando and the way he had made him feel that night, like he was special and wanted.

"Goodnight, then." Han said at last, an exaggerated, yet sad smile stretching his lips as he turned around and pressed the button to leave the room.

When he was in the hallway again and the door closed behind his back, his fingers went up to instinctively touch one of the marks that Lando had left on the crook of his neck. All he had left of those hours spent with him, and it was fading away, like Han's will to feel anything that went beyond a simple friendship.  
  


 

* * *

  
  


In the early hours of the following morning, the motley crew was crammed into the cockpit as Beckett was going over the plan one more time for everyone to remember what they had to do.

Qi'Ra was going to play the part of Oksana Floren, the deputy assistant administrator to the vice-admiral of the Federation of Trade Route Allocation and Monetization. What an incredible mouthful, created purposely to confuse the ruler of the mining colony, or so Han was convinced of. Beckett was going to be Tuul, a guard that accompanied her in her journey to offer the Pykes some hard working slaves in exchange for their spices, which obviously meant that Han and Chewie were going to be the slaves. L3 would serve as a translator and generally, just another subordinate of Oksana's, but no one was allowed to call her that, or else she'd probably turn them into mush. Lando was going to wait on the Falcon, ready to take off as soon as the Coaxium would be loaded on board with the rest of the crew.

Han wasn't too keen on leaving Lando alone on the ship, but there was no other way. He was definitely safer than he and the rest of them, up there. He would have wanted to exchange a couple more words with him before he had to get in his slave restraints, he couldn't help but think about their talk from the night before and how Lando was afraid that the operation could have gone downhill and things could have gotten ugly. He wanted to reassure him, say something when he still had the chance, anything. But Beckett patted him on the back and made him follow him to get geared up. Han threw one last look behind his shoulder and saw Lando briefly turn back to glance at him.

He thought he'd heard L3 whisper something to Lando, and he thought he'd heard Lando shutting her up, but when he tried to turn around one last time Beckett all but shoved him in the direction of the living quarters.

"Kid, I need you to be focused, alright?" Beckett said.

Han’s eyebrows shot up in surprise "I told you, I talked to him last night. We called a truce."

"Yeah well, worry about yourself first. You're on the line, you got a pretty damn important role to play." Beckett went on, with this weird expression on his face.

"I know!" Han replied, trying to conceal the frustration in his tone.

"Good. Lando will be fine up here." Beckett said as he held up Han's neck and hand cuffs.

It was then that Han realized with horror that Beckett must have known. He didn't know how, but he _knew_. He knew what had happened, he knew what was going on. Han wanted to believe it was just because Beckett was really good at reading people, and not because it had been blatantly obvious the whole time.

He didn't say anything in return and just let Beckett cuff him up, and give him another exhortative pat on the back. He then looked over at Qi'Ra cuffing Chewie up and couldn't help but feel a surge of irritation upon seeing one of Lando's capes draped over Qi'Ra's shoulders. The sensation caught him so off guard that he couldn't even believe what he was feeling, and had to slap himself mentally to calm the hell down and quit acting like a fool.

"We're about to land." Qi'Ra said, looking over at Han and furrowing her eyebrows when she saw his expression "Are you alright?”

"Hm? Yeah, sure." Han nodded "I just wish we didn't have to be all chained up."

Chewbacca agreed with a sonorous growl and a sharp tug on the restraints, that made Qi'Ra and Beckett screw their eyes shut.

"Won't be for long, I promise.” Qi'Ra tried to sound reassuring, but it only made Han feel like she was talking down to him.

"Yeah, I know." Han sighed, and Chewbacca nudged him with another low growl "We'll be fine." he told Chewie.

The Falcon received permission to land, then slowly Lando and L3 maneuvered the ship into the mine pit. Han sucked in a deep breath, trying to soothe his nerves and get his head in the game. There was no more time to let his mind wander, he needed to focus on the mission and take home the damn Coaxium.

"It's showtime." Beckett announced as the ramp lowered and they were joined by L3.

Qi'Ra was the first to set foot off the ship, she introduced herself to the Pykes and soon afterwards Han and Chewie were being tasered and examined by the sentinels to be deemed useful to the mine. He wasn't exactly ready to be in pain so soon, but he had to obviously roll with it, he exchanged an angry look with Chewbacca, and he knew that his friend was probably going to rip off a few limbs.

The sentinels yanked them back up to their feet and started pushing them towards the entrance of the mines, followed by Qi'Ra and Beckett. Han took his last chance to look back at the Falcon before a sentinel shoved him forward, and he had to resort to a great amount of self control to keep himself from making a scene right away.

The mines reeked of urine and mold, and it was kind of hard to breathe, it was obviously poorly lit and the more Han was there, the more they reminded him of Corellia. He heard shouting in languages he didn't know, then a few cries and the sound of electricity crackling against something as the guards probably punished the laborers. He couldn't help but think about how they could have saved all of them. Sure it might have jeopardized the mission, but it also felt like the right thing to do.

Though he didn't have too much time to ponder things over, because he and Chewbacca were pushed into an elevator to reach the lowest levels, where the Coaxium was mined. It was their real time to shine, and to finally get their revenge on the guards, as Chewie destroyed the security camera in the elevator, then both proceeded to quickly disarm and knock out the guards. Or at least Han did, because Chewie went full wookie and tore the sentinel's arms off.

"That's the uniform that would have fit me, but alright..." Han rolled his eyes at Chewie, and quickly took off his own cuffs and stripped the sentinel he'd attacked in order to wear his clothes as a disguise.

The entire place was monitored with cameras, so it was important that at least Chewie would be still playing the slave part, while Han escorted him as a guard until Qi'Ra, Beckett and L3 could take over the control room. For now they had to make do and reach the thermal vault and steal the amount of Coaxium they needed to please Dryden.

 _"I never had time to tell you, but I'm glad you're not pining over Qi'Ra anymore."_ Chewbacca growled all of a sudden.

"What?!" Han asked in a weird high pitch, staring up at Chewie in horror.

 _"I mean, you're still pining over someone, but I'm sure you've got a better chance with Lando."_ Chewie went on with a simple shrug of the shoulders.

Han felt like the wind had been knocked out of him upon hearing those words. What was he even talking about? He wasn't pining over anyone, Lando didn't see him that way and he definitely didn't think of Lando that way, either.

"What are you–" Han was glad his face was covered by a helmet, because he felt like he was on fire. "Shut up! We could die here! We gotta focus!" he snarled in return.

 _“You're totally smitten."_ Chewie roar-laughed.

Han wanted to kill him. That was really not the time or place to talk about something like that! What if he accidentally transmitted the whole conversation to the rest of the crew? What if Lando heard him?

"Han, can you hear me?" Qi'Ra's voice came to them suddenly in their headsets, and Han nearly had a stroke. He truly hoped she hadn’t heard anything Chewbacca had said.

"I kinda need to know which way to go here!" Han said, trying not to sound panicked.

 _"Fine, ignore me. That just proves me right."_ Chewie went on, making Han groan in frustration.

"The thermal vault is down two levels, then left, then right, then it's the third left." L3 was the one to reply, since she had probably gained access to the controls and mapping of the mine, but Han could barely keep up with the amount of sudden information.

"Right. That's a lot of directions..." Han commented, but pushed Chewbacca to start walking nonetheless "We're on it."

It was a matter of minutes, everything had happened so quickly that Han and Chewbacca didn't even have the time to realize it, but chaos was suddenly upon them. Dozens of droids were scrambling away or fighting against every guard they could find, and along the droids were the rest of the slaves, now free from their chains and tasting their revenge. Han could hear L3 shouting into her headset about creating a diversion, but soon afterwards she was yelling about a rebellion against the oppressors. She had created the opposite of a distraction, but at least she had freed those poor people.

Han still tried to stay on course and follow the directions to the vault, but suddenly Chewbacca stopped in his tracks and Han just couldn't get him to follow him. There were other wookies held captive, and they were being tortured back into submission by the guards, there was just no way that Chewie was going to leave them behind. After all Han knew what it was like to be alone, and Chewie had told him that he had been separated from his family by the Empire, and he clearly was longing to help his kin.

How could he oppose such decision? All he could do was take off his helmet and give the Pyke weapon to Chewie, so that he could fend for himself.

"Hope I'll see you around." Han said, a sad smile playing on his lips as Chewbacca thanked him.

The clock was ticking, and no matter how sad he was to part ways with his good friend, Han needed to keep running. He was the only hope to get the Coaxium, now. No time for feelings, there was never any. He put his helmet back on and started again in the direction of the vault, dodged as many people as he could and kept making his way down.

"Han, where are you?" Qi'Ra's impatient voice came through to him once again.

"I'm on my way to the vault." he replied, without stopping. Then added "I lost Chewie."

"He's dead?" Beckett asked.

"No, he... Had something he had to do." Han replied simply, there was no time for details either.

"Is he coming back?" Beckett continued.

"I don't know!" Han cried, and was glad that the conversation was finally over. For now, at least.

He got to the vault, slowing down his pace to a normal walk as soon as he saw a guard standing by the door. He managed to take him down, then broke into the vault where the temperature was kept low enough for the Coaxium not to heat up. Qi'Ra instructed him on how to handle the extremely unstable and dangerous substance, like he wasn't already terrified to blow up with the entire mine while moving the canisters.

He got rid of the stupid uniform, and got to work, since Beckett told him he needed to load eleven, heavy as kriff canisters on a cart, all by himself. Now he really did miss Chewie and his wookie might more than ever. It took all of his strength and what felt like an impossibly long amount of time, but he did manage to load them all up, and then he was ready to slowly... Atrociously slowly, roll it out of the vault.

Thankfully the vault was located not too far from an exit, but he still had to try and fight his way out as the guards kept coming up to him. At some point he was so close to the exit and he was so exhausted that when he saw more guards approaching he truly had no idea what to do. He thought he was done for, but out of a tunnel came Chewbacca, roaring and sending one of the guards flying. Han couldn't help the hysterical laugh that erupted from his throat upon seeing him and the rest of the wookies. They fought off the guards and finally helped Han push the cart out of the mine.

The mayhem inside the mines was nothing compared to the outside. Blasters were being fired, guards and other people were falling to the ground injured or worse, and Han and Chewie needed to be very careful not to get hit or let the canisters get hit. The Pykes came very close to shooting at the cart, but they managed to swerve it so that it would remain untouched. Han looked over to the Falcon, and felt his heart skip a beat when he saw Lando coming down from the ramp, still perfectly dressed with his blasters ablaze.

 _"See? He's safe!"_ Chewie growled.

"Knock it off! Just help me with the damn cart!" Han snarled right back, keeping his head low not to get shot.

The blasters hit the Falcon, and Han saw the utter rage in Lando's eyes as he shot to death the exact same guard that had managed to hit the ship. Han really didn't want to think about how hot that was, but then Lando called out to him in an angry and commanding voice, and honestly, there was nothing more he could ask for in that moment.

Han let go of the cart, leaving it to Chewbacca and the other wookies to start stowing the Coaxium up inside the Falcon. Lando threw one of the blasters for him to catch and use, and they started fighting off the guards side by side. Beckett and Qi'Ra arrived shortly after, running through the battlefield, they could have definitely used more fire power, which Beckett luckily provided.

"They're going for the landing gear! We've gotta get out of here!" Qi'Ra shouted over the ruckus, before running inside the Falcon.

They needed to stall the enemies just for a little longer, while all the canisters were being loaded and secured inside the ship, then they could finally get off that damn planet. They kept taking down as many guards as they could, while the wookies finished their job, and when Chewbacca came back down the ramp he confirmed that the Coaxium was indeed secured.

"Coaxium's stowed! Let's go!" Han shouted and started to slowly walk back to the ramp, himself.

"Where's L3?" asked Lando, abandoning his fighting stance in order to scan the battlefield and look for the droid.

Then they saw her. They all did. She was shouting triumphantly in the midst of the battle, so proud of having freed all the droids and the rest of the slaves, but a fight wasn't going to stop and wait for her bursts of joy to end and be attentive again. A guard shot her once, then he shoot her again, and again, until she fell to the ground.

"L3!" Lando's scream ripped through Han's soul and made him lose focus on the battle completely, as he watched him sprint through the crossfire and run like a mad man.

Han didn't know what to do, he couldn't stop shooting, he needed to keep defending himself and the ship, but his entire body was starting to ache. Lando was going to get himself killed and Han couldn't blame him, because no matter the bickering he knew that Lando loved L3 and wasn't going to leave her behind, even if it costed him his life. Han tried to stay focused on the enemies, but he still kept looking at Lando out of the corner of his eye. He saw the way he crouched over L3's body, how he took her in his arms and felt probably just as shocked as he did when the droid's body broke in a half and Lando had to leave her legs behind.

Han stopped fighting, he was itching to just run into the battlefield himself, because he knew Lando was unable to defend himself with L3 in his arms. He hesitated as he watched him stumble, but then felt his heart drop when Lando was shot in the arm and fell to his knees. That did it, no more faltering, he needed to do what his heart told him instead of his head. He ran through the crossfire to get to him, he fired his blaster to the more imminent threats as he waited for Lando to stand back up. He stayed behind him, keeping the enemies at bay as much as he could, until Lando tripped and fell again.

"Shit!" Han grumbled underneath his breath, and quickly moved to pull Lando back up on his feet. "I got you, babe." was what naturally came out of his lips, while he helped Lando up.

His cries of pain were breaking Han's heart, especially because he knew he was holding him by his injured arm, but there was nothing much he could do about it. Han saw Chewbacca run towards them, and practically threw Lando and L3 into his arms, so that he could carry them back to the Falcon, while he kept defending the four of them on the way.

Han didn't stop shooting until the ramp was pulled back up, and even then he would have wanted to keep wreaking havoc on those pieces of crap. His heart was hammering in his ears, nearly making him deaf to L3's cries of her system not responding and Lando's reassurances.

He ran to the living quarters where everyone was staring in horror at how L3 kept twitching in Lando's arms, the damages were so severe that there was just no way she could have been repaired. His throat knotted up as he listened to the desperation in Lando's voice, he couldn't believe how close they had been to all making it back safely… That really didn't need to happen.

"Han get us out of here!" Beckett ordered, but Han didn't move.

He didn't want to leave Lando alone, he wanted to stay by his side no matter what was going to happen. He also didn't want to overstep his boundaries by piloting the Falcon without Lando's approval.

"Han, now!" Beckett insisted. 

Han looked at Lando, and he raised his gaze to look up at Han and nodded to him that it was alright, he could go. Only then Han nodded in return and quickly moved to the cockpit to take control of the ship and leave Kessel.

Yes, he had longed to fly that ship the moment he'd laid eyes on her, but he wished it could have been during a merrier time. He grabbed the controls, turned on the engines and lifted the ship in the air, speeding out of Kessel’s atmosphere.

There's no telling for Han how long he'd been alone in the cockpit, he'd been trying to focus on getting the Falcon as far away from Kessel as possible and in the shortest period of time. He forced his ears to stop trying to capture anything coming from the living quarters, keeping his eyes peeled and never looking back. The course back was a lot trickier, apparently, more dangerous, and that was enough for Han to stay sharp, but when Qi'Ra and Chewie showed up in the cockpit, quiet and upset, Han knew.

 She was gone.

L3 was gone and Han felt guilt stabbing him in the chest. Suddenly a million thoughts swarmed through his head, but the thing he regretted the most was telling Lando that nothing would have gone wrong. In the back of his head he knew that kicking himself for something that was way beyond his control was useless, especially since they still weren't completely safe out there.

"Hey..." Qi'Ra said softly, tearing Han away from his own musings.

"Hey." Han looked up at her and saw a small smile stretching her lips. He smiled softly as well, appreciating the company "I could use a copilot."

Qi'Ra's smile widened as she got into the seat that was usually occupied by L3, and Chewie sat right behind her. Han didn't really feel like talking, especially not about whatever had happened, so he remained quiet and focused on the course.

They piloted quietly for a while, there wasn't much to do apart from carefully and quietly steering the ship through the maelstrom, when all of the sudden Qi'Ra spoke again.

"I'm gonna miss her..."

Han's blood froze in his veins. He didn't think they were going to go there, but they apparently were. He hadn't even thought about how close the two girls had gotten, he'd only been thinking about Lando.

"I know..." Han spoke softly, and turned to look at her. “Guess I will, too.”

Her eyes were shining brighter in the blue light of the galaxy, she was fighting back her tears and it made Han's chest ache. He placed a hand over hers, in an affectionate gesture of reassurance.

"She was so happy about freeing all those droids, all those people..." Qi'Ra went on, her voice caught in her throat, breaking.

Han felt his throat knot up, and his hand squeezed Qi'Ra's. He didn't want to see her cry, nor suffer, but there was no escaping this, no matter how much everyone needed to stay focused on the job. This was the Qi'Ra he used to know, the girl that was compassionate and caring was still there somewhere, past the luxurious clothes and expensive perfume, past the glacial facade of someone who worked for a powerful crime syndicate.

"She was doing what she believed in. She was trying to help everyone." Han's jaw clenched in rage, he might have been scared of L3 and might have found her annoying at times, but she was a good droid. She genuinely believed in her cause, and it was a good one, after all. No matter how odd it might have seemed to most people.

Qi'Ra shook her head and wriggled her hand free from Han's soft grip. She was going back to her composed, calculated self. Her eyes were dry and focused again, as if tears had never begun welling up inside of them, and Han wondered just how much Dryden Vos had ruined her, and if she was actually past the point of no return, just like she kept telling Han. He should have probably started listening to her, but that wasn't something he was very good at.

Han looked back at Chewie, suddenly feeling awkward after Qi'Ra had moved her hand out of his, and found his black, beady eyes staring at him already. Han knew he was silently judging him, and he also knew that he would have probably said something about the whole situation, but was thankfully keeping his mouth shut. Han let out a soft sigh and went back to look ahead, leaving an uncomfortable silence to settle over them.

It was when everything was quiet that Han heard a few slow steps, the rustling sound of cloth being tugged on, and when he turned to look back again he saw Lando resting against the doorframe of the cockpit. He had torn off the sleeve of his shirt and used a thick strip of fabric to bandage the blaster wound on his arm, and as soon as his eyes met Han he froze. He was glaring at Han again, and Han felt like he was going to be sick. His eyes trailed from Lando's glower to his arm, and then up to his eyes again.

"I'm sorry..." Han's voice cracked.

The silence of the cockpit felt suffocating in that moment, especially since Lando wasn't saying anything in return, and it took him a few too many excruciating seconds to just nod at him in sign of appreciation.

"With the cargo we're carrying, if we don't make up some lost time we're gonna be in real trouble." Lando said, walking up to where Han was sitting and resting a hand on the back of the seat.

Han looked up at him, feeling relieved that Lando would still consider being near him, no matter the anger and pain he was probably harboring inside. He would have wanted to say something, he would have wanted to elaborate his apology, but there was simply no time, like Lando had just stated. They may have fled Kessel, but the Coaxium was away from the temperature that kept it from exploding, and they needed to get to Savareen as fast as they could. Or as fast as Han could.

"How about that, is that real trouble?" Qi'Ra said all of a sudden, looking up at whatever Han and Lando weren't seeing yet.

Just when Han thought that the situation couldn't possibly get any worse, it obviously did. There was no limit to his misfortune lately. He felt Lando bending over to take a closer look, and getting a lot closer to Han in the process, but it wasn't like he could enjoy the moment, not when the Empire had found them.

"That... Is an Imperial blockade." Lando said in an almost resigned tone.

"What's it doing here?" Han nearly growled in exasperation.

He needed to get ready to flee, one way or the other, because he knew that there was just no escaping the Empire, no matter how cocky he could get.

"Probably heard about your little rebellion." Lando replied, dry.

There he went, obviously. He knew that Lando was going to make it sound like he had been the one to push all those buttons to free the droids and the slaves, and cause all that commotion that L3 had caused all on her own. He wasn't going to play along, he wasn't going to pick up the provocation. Lando had just lost someone he cared deeply for, he was injured, and Han really hoped it was his awful mood speaking and not really him.

"Nope. Not gonna make it." Lando went on, shaking his head "We're gonna have to drop the shipment."

Hadn't Han been really concentrated on quickly calculating all their possibilities and finding a way out of that mess, he would have rolled his eyes and told him to just leave the cockpit and go lay down.

"If we don't deliver, Dryden will kill us." Luckily enough, Qi'Ra was the one to reply to his nonsense.

"Alright, trust me. I know these guys." Han said, turning to look at both Lando and Qi'Ra as he spoke "I used to be one of them. There's no way they're gonna waste a TIE fighter chasing down a little rinky-dink freighter."

The exact moment he uttered those words, the destroyer that blocked their way released six TIE fighters that sped up towards them, ready to open fire.

"You were saying?" Qi'Ra asked, sarcastic.

"Usually in situations like these I like to turn around into the opposite direction." Lando chimed in right after.

Han would have really appreciated it if everyone stopped treating him like he were an idiot, so he seized the moment to simultaneously make a run for it and shut everyone up by harshly and suddenly turning the ship around. He heard Chewie growl, Qi'Ra cry out in surprise, and Lando's groans of pain, but then again, those sounds were better than any protest. There was no time to waste, and he definitely wasn't going to waste it listening to everyone complaining about his decisions. It was about time they found out how great of a pilot he actually was.

"I'm on the ventral gun!" Han heard Beckett say. He didn't even know he was in the cockpit up until that moment, but he definitely appreciated that he was the only one being actually helpful.

The TIE fighters started shooting at them, and Han did his best to dodge every shot, even if it was far from easy. He did everything in his power to prevent the most fragile parts of the ship from being hit, and tried not to curse out loud the few times they actually managed to be caught by the enemy's fire.

"It's an easy equation." Lando began, gripping at the back of Han's seat again "We simply got no time to get to Savareen before the canisters explode!"

"Just have to find a faster route." Han gave a curt nod, still concentrating on not getting all of them killed.

"There isn't one! You can't make the Kessel run in less than twenty parsecs!" Lando growled at him.

Another challenge. And Han was determined to win it.

"Watch me." Han replied.

"How?" Lando almost yelled over the sounds of the TIE fighters chasing after them.

"Take a shortcut," Han said simply, "through there." he briefly pointed up at the angry cluster of matter that surrounded them.

" _Into_ the Maelstrom?" Lando full on shouted this time.

"Mmhmm..." Han hummed, and ignored Chewie's growls of disagreement.

"Spectacular way of killing us all, I'll give you that." Lando went on.

He had calculated everything, he knew the risks, he knew it was almost suicide, but he also knew that there was no other option to get away from the Empire. He was absolutely confident about his piloting skills, and he knew that he could make it, but most of all he knew that they still had an ace in the hole.

"Can't do it without L3." Han briefly turned to look at Lando. He really didn't mean to make his pain worse, but what he was about to suggest was their only hope of survival.

"She's gone!" Lando barked, and rightfully so.

"If we remove her neural core, it's possible we can download her brain into the Falcon's navicomputer, right?" Han explained his plan as his eyes wandered from Lando to the course, then back to Lando and then on the course again.

"Could we?" Qi'Ra asked.

Finally, they were starting to trust him.

"Theoretically." Lando grunted.

"Only one way to find out." Han looked back at him, and this time their gazes met for longer than a couple seconds.

Lando was reluctant, he could perfectly tell, there was a silent request from Han to just trust him this time, even if he knew that he had sort of screwed up the last time he'd asked him that. Han watched as the muscles of Lando's jaw bunched up, but he did stand up nonetheless to leave the cockpit and do what Han had suggested him to.

If they were going to survive all that, Han was going to have a lot of apologizing to do. If Lando was ever going to let him.

The minutes that followed were insane, even worse than what had happened on Kessel. As Han had launched the ship into the Maelstrom, and the TIE fighters still followed him, he had to avoid both them and the countless pieces of debris and obstacles, making it that much harder to prevent the Falcon from being damaged.

The rougher things became, the more they called for desperate methods. Chewie, who had stayed silent for the entire ordeal, had finally stepped in for a complex procedure when Qi'Ra had absolutely no clue what Han had just asked her to do. At that point, Han felt like it had been fate that had brought them together, like Chewie was the copilot he didn't know he needed in his life.

Lando and Qi'Ra successfully uploaded L3’s neural core to the Falcon, and she managed to guide them away from the Empire. Even if she was physically gone she had become part of the ship, as she saved them from the enemy. There was a glint in Lando's eyes that made Han's heart skip a beat, as he stared fondly at the Falcon with the knowledge that L3 was there, forever.

And yet again, there was no time to just sit around and be sentimental, because as soon as they thought they were out of danger, a monster living by the Maw threatened to swallow the Falcon. Han flew past its many tentacles, avoiding the electric shocks they emanated, to try and get away from the beast one way or another, until he caught glimpse of what the infamous Maw actually was: a gravity well.

It only took a second for Han to decide that the only way to escape the giant monster was to actually drive it as close as possible to the Maw, so that it would get swallowed while they sneaked away. Deaf to the various protests from the rest of the crew, Han got as close as he could to the mouth of the well, then ejected the escape pod into the Maw, using it as bait for the monster to follow and be engulfed, leaving them free to escape.

The plan did work, as the monster got gradually sucked into the Maw, but the Falcon wasn’t powerful enough to pull away from it, leaving it stuck and unable to actually fly away to safety. They needed to come up with something, and quite quickly, before either the Falcon would be swallowed by The Maw, or the canisters exploded. One way or the other, if they didn’t find a way out they were done for.

"We have enough raw Coaxium to power a dozen destroyers." Qi'Ra quipped in, holding onto the back of Han's seat.

"Inject it into the fuel line, it'll blow up the ship." Han retorted immediately. He knew that desperate times called for desperate methods, but Qi'Ra's idea was actual suicide.

"Not the fuel line." Lando corrected him, "But if we put one drop into the fusion reactor, it might just..."

"Give us the kick we need..." Han finished his sentence. That worked, that could definitely work. He turned to look at Lando, thankful that he was starting to think as crazy as Han was.

"Alright, I'm on it!" Beckett shouted, disappearing from the cockpit to get to retrieving a single drop of Coaxium.

Even that was extremely dangerous, the canisters were reaching their limit, Han knew that, but he trusted Beckett to do his job correctly. All the while, he and Chewie were left to try and steer the ship in a way that wouldn't get them pulled into the well or hit by debris. They needed to stay as sharp and ready as possible, because they knew that the moment the Coaxium dripped inside the reactor, they'd be launched away from the Maw and Han would have to be quick enough to align the Falcon to the only tear that would lead them past the Maelstrom and allow them to jump to lightspeed.

Though as soon as the Coaxium was injected the Falcon stopped working. It shut down completely, and The Maw immediately drew them into its mouth. Han’s mind didn’t even have time to register the reality of being doomed, because the ship started up again, suddenly, and shot abruptly in the direction of the tear. The Falcon couldn't fit in the tear in its horizontal position, especially as it gradually closed back as the walls collapsed on each other, so Han was going to have to maneuver the ship so that it would fit vertically in the little space and gave Chewie the command to punch the thrusters that would make them jump to lightspeed.

They had made it. They'd escaped the Empire, the Maw, the monster, the Maelstrom and had managed to make the jump to Savareen, where they could finally unload the Coaxium and wait for Dryden Vos to make the exchange. They were about to become rich, and Han couldn't quite contain the euphoria that was coursing through him. It wasn't just about the money, it was about what he had managed to pull off back there, like the incredible pilot he knew he was, and right after they managed to secure the canisters he couldn't stop bragging about having made the Kessel run in twelve parsecs.

Everyone was helping the refinery people, everyone except Lando, who was just standing a few feet away from the Falcon so that he could stare at the absolute disaster that Han had made of it. Han looked over at him, after arguing with Chewie that if he rounded down the numbers he had definitely made the run in twelve parsecs, and felt a good chunk of his excitement turn into guilt. Lando had lost his beloved friend, he'd been shot and now the Falcon was wrecked. Han didn't know if he was ever going to forgive him, but damn it, he was going to try.

He strode towards him, boots shuffling over the sand, he could feel his heart pounding in his ears as he watched Lando's severe expression. It reminded him way too much of how he'd glared at him when he'd gone to his quarters, that night he got drunk with Qi'Ra, Chewie and Beckett, it made Han's chest tighten, but still he stopped next to Lando and pushed his luck by throwing an arm around his shoulders. Lando huffed, a groan getting stuck in his throat as Han pulled him slightly closer to his side, still careful not to hurt his injured arm as much as he could.

"She's one hell of a ship." Han said, jerking his chin in the direction of the beat up Falcon.

Lando's head turned to meet Han's eyes, and immediately he felt that way too familiar twitch in his stomach. That feeling he used to get years and years ago when he looked at Qi'Ra.

There... Now he was able to place it. What an idiot he'd been all those days, trying to deny what was actually happening in his heart and mind.

"I hate you." was Lando's reply.

Ok, so maybe Han shouldn't have been acting like a smartass in that very moment, but he was so happy to be this close to Lando again. It was the closer that they had been in a long time, and Han couldn't stop looking down at his ridiculously long eyelashes and perfect lips.

"I know..." he replied, and watched as Lando shrugged his arm off and pointed at the Falcon.

"I'm gonna be in _my_ ship. In _my_ quarters. Waiting for you to bring me _my_ share." Lando sneered, then took off in the direction of the Falcon.

Han raised an eyebrow, then quickly glanced at the rest of the crew. He saw Chewie looking right back at him, and waving both his arms as if to tell him to follow Lando. He smirked to himself, he had to admit Chewbacca was the best wingman he could have ever wished for, be it when he needed someone to co-pilot with, or someone to just steer him into the right direction. He really didn't think a wookie would be that good at reading him, when he couldn't even read himself.

Han took in a deep breath, and quickly caught up to Lando on his way back to the Falcon. He didn't care how pissed he might have been, Han had finally set his mind on what he wanted to do and say, and there was no turning back. They still had time for the Coaxium to be refined, and for Dryden to come claim it. Han needed to make this work.

"Where do you think you're going?" Lando asked as soon as Han was walking next to him.

"I'm sorry, man." Han started "I really am."

"For what, exactly?" Lando asked once they were by the entrance of the ship.

"All of it." Han shrugged.

Lando stopped and turned to look at him, Han felt like his eyes were piercing through his very soul.

"I'm sorry about L3. I'm sorry about wrecking the Falcon." Han licked his lips, looking down at his shoes for a moment as he tried to psych himself up "I'm sorry I didn't come to help you with L3 right away, and I couldn't avoid you getting hurt." he said as he finally looked back up at him.

Lando looked nervously away. This time there was no rage in his eyes, and Han was genuinely taken aback by it. His gaze dropped to the ground, and it seemed as if he was searching for the right words to say amongst the grains sand.

"It's..." Lando started, then let out a groan "You saved me, alright?"

Han's eyes widened. He certainly wasn't expecting to hear that.

"I know you didn't get her killed, she made a choice. A choice I knew she was gonna make sooner or later..." Lando shook his head "And I nearly got myself killed, but you stepped in and you saved me."

"Is this really happening?" Han's thoughts flowed out of his mouth before he could realize it.

Lando furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, then rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, you idiot." Lando pursed his lips "So, thank you. But not for destroying my ship!" he said, dramatically pointing at the Falcon.

"It was the only way to make it out alive and you know it." Han raised both his eyebrows, and nodded slowly.

Lando shook his head and turned around once again to head inside the Falcon, and Han followed suit. This was really going to be the first time they were alone, and Han prayed for nobody to come running and ruining everything.

"Shouldn't you be helping out Qi'Ra, or something?" Lando muttered when Han stepped inside the ship after him.

Funny. He really didn't feel like doing that, and he was just coming to accept it.

"You got a first aid kit?" Han asked, completely ignoring his question.

"What for?" Lando scowled at him.

"Your arm. I wanna take a look at it." Han said as he pointed at the dirty piece of cloth wrapped around Lando's bicep.

"It's fine." Lando scoffed.

"You scared it's gonna sting?" Han challenged him, a small smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"Unlike you, I'm actually a fully grown man." Lando arched an eyebrow.

And just like that, in the blink of an eye, he was looking exactly like that evening back at The Lodge. That same smug expression that Han had wanted to wipe away, one way or another.

"Then go get the kit, fully grown man." Han used his best patronizing tone of voice, and watched as Lando rolled his eyes, yet went through the busted interiors of the ship to get whatever Han needed to take proper care of him.

The wound. Lando's wound.

Han rested his hands on his hips and took a good look around at the awful state of the Falcon. It was a lot worse than he'd imagined, but with a bit of work everything could be fixed. Maybe if he offered to help putting everything back the way it was, Lando would forgive him completely. It would have been a lot of work, but it would be worth it.

Something caught his eyes, making him furrow his brows as he walked over to a burnt piece of... Oh, it was the red cape that Qi'Ra had been wearing to pose as Oksana. Oh. Lando had also lost one of his beloved capes, that only added to the long list of things ruined in Lando's life.

"It was a custom piece." Lando's pained voice made Han look up from the burnt garment.

"Guess we'll have to get you a new one?" Han suggested, truly unable to make fun of him for his absurd obsession with capes.

"Once I get my money, I will." Lando said as he handed Han the kit.

Han grabbed the tin box, then moved to sit on the couch. Lando followed him, he glared down at the torn up yellow leather, brushed off some debris that had collapsed from the ceiling of the Falcon, and sat down.

Han opened the box and examined its contents. Everything he needed was there, he had poorly stitched himself up a couple times back in Corellia and on the battlefield, so he truly hoped Lando didn't need a lot of them. Or none at all.

Lando carefully removed the strip of cotton from the wound, biting his lower lip not to make any sound as the fabric had clearly stuck to the injury.

"I loved this shirt, too." Lando grumbled.

"So did I." Han couldn't help but blurt out.

Real smooth, Han.

They stared up at each other for an interminable couple of moments, then both averted their gazes in embarrassment. Han busied himself with somehow cleaning his hands with the disinfectant, so that he wouldn't contaminate Lando's injury.

"Don't know much about fashion, I guess. But uh... Yellow suits you." Han went on, immediately regretting opening his mouth again.

"You absolutely know _nothing_ about fashion. You wear brown on black." Lando replied after a few more moments of awkward silence.

Han appreciated it. He truly hated uncomfortable silences. Even if Lando had only seized his opportunity to insult his style of clothing.

"Whatever." Han muttered as he grabbed a piece of clean gauze that he soaked in disinfectant. "C'mhere..." he said softly as he gently grabbed Lando's arm to clean out the wound.

Lando hissed as soon as the gauze touched his burnt, torn flesh, and Han stopped immediately, looking up at Lando.

"Be a smart-ass and I'll punch you." Lando threatened between gritted teeth.

"Just didn't wanna hurt you." Han furrowed his eyebrows.

"Go on." Lando tilted his head slightly, glancing away from his arm.

Han resumed cleaning the wound as gently as he could, keeping Lando's arm steady but being careful not to hold on to it too tightly. The wound looked gnarly, but luckily enough it didn't seem too deep, if he used some ointment and bandaged it tight enough it should have healed up nicely without stitches.

"You scared me, you know?" Han spoke all of a sudden, as he was about to apply the ointment to the wound.

"What?" Lando's eyebrows drew together, quizzically.

"When you bolted through the crossfire." Han went on, eyes focused on the wound. He knew that if he looked Lando in the eyes he wouldn't have been able to keep speaking.

He could feel his heart pounding in his throat and echoing inside his ears, but he couldn't back down. Not now.

"Thought you were gonna get yourself killed." Han continued, when Lando didn't say anything in return.

"What do you care, anyway?" Lando bursted, all of a sudden.

The words cut through him like a blade, but he couldn't let Lando hurt him again as he had done the first time. He was going to stand his ground, this time around.

"I care." Han stared up at him, and was met by a wide eyed Lando, who apparently didn't know what to reply with.

Han was starting to feel like an idiot, but he tried to quickly shove those sensations away, looking back down at the wound and grabbing the rolled up bandage.

"I worried about you the whole damn time, actually." Han confessed unashamed, as he slowly began to wrap Lando's arm up.

"Han..." Lando said properly, not making fun of him.

Han shook his head to interrupt whatever he was about to say, cautiously handling his arm as he bandaged it "I know you couldn't care less about me. You made that perfectly clear."

"I confess I wanted to leave all of you here." Lando said in a small, remorseful voice.

It didn't come as a surprise to Han, but at the same time it felt like there was a wedge stuck in his throat. He finished his work, and got to slowly set everything back inside the box, just to buy himself some more time.

"But that's only 'cause I was scared... Of so many things. Especially after losing L3." Lando went on, and when Han raised his gaze back on him, he found a pair of glossy, languid eyes staring at him.

"I wasn't gonna steal the Falcon, don't worry." Han muttered, pressing the lid of the box shut "No matter how fun it was to fly her."

"Wasn't my main concern but, now that you make me think about it..." Lando tilted his head to the side, and Han couldn't help the small laugh that tugged at his lips, causing a grin to spread on Lando's.

"You don't have to come meet Dryden. I can handle it." Han reassured him with a small nod.

Lando didn't answer right away, and there was another moment of silence. Han was starting to feel hopeless again, he might have been an awesome pilot, but he just had awful luck with the people he had feelings for.

"So, with your share... You gonna buy a ship and run away with Qi'Ra?" Lando asked, casually looking down at his arm and grazing the bandage with his fingers.

Han froze on the spot, his back stiffening as he stared at Lando. He wouldn't look back at Han, as if he were somehow scared of the answer he was going to get in return. It made Han's heart flutter in his chest, but didn't dislodge the wedge just yet.

"Qi'Ra?" was all Han could say in return.

"Yeah..." Lando finally looked up at him, his gaze stern, almost as if he were a statue.

"Qi'Ra and I..." Han hesitated. He didn't know what he wanted to say, because he still hadn't even wrapped his head around it, yet.

He was in love with a memory. With something from his past. Something he would have wanted to go back to and be comforted by. But Qi'Ra had changed, Han didn't know what had happened to her but she wouldn't open up to him, no matter how many times he'd tried to help her doing so.

She looked the same but didn't feel the same, and Han had tried to cling to his memories, and to the hope of bringing her back, because maybe he would have felt less guilty of having left her behind. He didn't like change, he was a romantic, even if he didn't fancy himself one, but he was too attached to what they used to be to understand that he needed to leave their past in the past, instead of trying to revive something that had been dead for a while.

Lando had helped him come to terms with that, and more specifically, the things he felt when he was around him. Even if those feelings weren't mutual, Han would have still treasured what he had learned.

"You're in love with her. I know that." Lando said as if he were trying to finish the sentence that Han had left hanging.

Han snapped back to reality upon hearing his words, and blinked a couple times in confusion.

"No I..." Han shook his head, and saw a slight change in Lando’s posture and expression, as if he was eager to hear what he had to say "Guess I used to be. Years ago. But it's over, and it has been for a while."

"What are you talking about?" Lando let out a small, hollow laugh "I saw the two of you the whole time. Whispering to each other, holding hands, sleeping together."

Realization suddenly washed over Han, and his eyes widened as he listened to Lando, his jaw falling open.

Had Lando been pushing him away because he was jealous?

"You thought that..." Han's eyebrows twitched, not sure what emotion they were trying to convey.

"You used me as a rebound, and it worked out perfectly for you." Lando went on, completely deaf to Han's attempt to speak up and clarify. "I've already lost enough for a day. Don't make it worse."

Han couldn't believe his ears. All the arguing, the fighting, the shouting... They were all just Lando trying to push him away because he thought he had used him to get Qi'Ra back. Because he thought he wanted to make her jealous and win her back.

He had made Han believe that he had only used him as a toy, when it had actually meant something to him.

"Calrissian, I may be an idiot, but you're a dumbass." Han shook his head, a smirk curling his lips.

Lando frowned, looking deeply insulted.

"I'm not–" he tried to protest, but Han had promptly grabbed the front of his dirty, torn shirt to pull him into a kiss, successfully shutting him up.

Lando sat motionless for a brief while, clearly taken by surprise. Han reared back, still smirking, then swiftly moved to straddle the other man's lap as he stared up at him in wonder.

"Oh..." Lando murmured, and Han dove back in to lock their lips together, his arms wrapping around Lando's neck.

Lando's hands immediately found their rightful place on Han's hips, and he parted his lips as soon as Han's tongue pushed against them. The kiss was urgent and ravenous, it would have almost hurt if it wasn't so damn good. Han's entire body shook as Lando's hands slipped inside his shirt, he had wanted to feel his palms against his skin for what had felt like a lifetime, so much that he moaned into Lando's mouth as if he had been touched between his thighs. Lando's hands squeezed his flesh, his nails dug into it, and Han's hips automatically rocked down into Lando's.

It was primal, but at the same time it wasn't. The kiss was bruising, but at the same time it was tender. They were just two men longing deeply for each other in every possible way. Two men giving in to their feelings after denying them for too long. It was the most intense sensation that Han had felt in his whole, entire life, and he couldn't get enough of it.

"Guys! Where the hell are you?!"

Beckett's voice came sudden and fizzing, through the communication devices of the Falcon. Han nearly fell off of Lando's lap, and Lando nearly screamed against his lips. Of course they would be interrupted, it had become the most annoying constant in their lives, yet at the same time they knew that Beckett wouldn't sound so pressing just to pester them.

"Guys!" Beckett called out again.

"The cockpit." Lando muttered, and Han nodded.

They reluctantly left the couch and quickly got to the cockpit to answer Beckett's call and take an actual look at whatever was going on out there.

"Shit..." Han exclaimed as soon as he saw the multitude of masked people standing in front of the refinery.

"Enfys Nest?!" Lando cried.

Han pressed the communication button "On my way."

" _Your_ way?" Lando asked, eyebrows drawing together.

"You stay here. You're injured and I don't want you in harms way again." Han practically ordered.

"Like hell I'm saying here! I can still fight!" Lando protested. "You can’t tell me what to do."

"I'm just–" Han growled, then paused to shut his eyes and take in a sharp breath "Just stay here, alright? We need you on the Falcon. What if we gotta make a run for it?"

Han was definitely trying to keep Lando on the ship because he didn't want him to get even more hurt, but he needed to make it sound like he wasn't being a bossy piece of crap. Lando's nostrils flared and his lips pursed, but he did raise his right hand in surrender.

"Fine." Lando obliged. "But you get yourself killed, and I'll kill you."

Han grinned and moved in for another quick kiss "I'll be fine." he reassured him once again, before running off to disembark the ship.

"Han." Lando called him one last time, making him turn on his heels as soon as he had just walked past the threshold of the cockpit.

"Yeah?" Han perked up, eyebrows raised as he waited for whatever he had to say.

No word came out of Lando's lips, he just took a couple more steps ahead and kissed Han one more time. It wasn't just a peck on the lips, but he tried to keep it quick, so that Han could still hurry up and go help the others. But Han knew what it meant, Lando was worried about him, and it made a warm feeling spread across his chest.

"I'm coming back, don't worry." a soft smile stretched Han's lips.

"I know." Lando shrugged a shoulder, but Han could tell that it was just to appear unfazed.

Suddenly Han remembered about something that he had given to Qi'Ra years ago, and before he entered the mines back in Kessel she had secretly given back to him. Han quickly patted himself down, then stuck his hand down his left pocket and pulled out his lucky golden dices.

"Here..." Han knew that they hadn't exactly worked out as planned for Qi'Ra, but she was alive nonetheless. "Take these. You'll return them when I'll be back."

Han watched as Lando's eyes widened slightly once he saw the dices. He raised a hesitant hand, but took them nonetheless.

"Just go." Lando muttered as his fist wrapped around the lucky charm.

Han tried to bite back a grin, then finally turned around to run out of the Falcon. It wasn't the right moment to act like a smitten fool, but it truly couldn't be helped. Especially not when Lando was trying to act like he wasn't just as far gone as Han was, just to end up looking absolutely adorable.

Han had to forcefully chase away those thoughts, because no matter how pleasant they were, he need to be focused. Things had gone south for the umpteenth time that day, but that was no time to fail, not when they were so close to finishing this job and flying away from Savareen as rich men.

He rushed through the sand dunes, finally making it to Beckett's side. His right hand was itching to unsheathe his blaster from its holster, but Beckett held up an arm in front of him, letting him know that there was no need for violence... Yet.

Han didn't think Enfys would find them, but apparently Beckett had seen it coming all along, only he didn't think they'd catch up to them so soon, even before Dryden would show up.

It turned out that Enfys had eyes everywhere, and their carefully planned heist had been closely watched. Han tried to think back hard, attempting to scope his memory for something or someone that may have caught his eyes, a sight that could have traced back to Enfys, but nothing came to his mind.

Still he couldn't just stand there, being useless. He wanted to come up with a plan, even a stupid one, something that could pull them all out of this mess, but Beckett was already warning the marauders about Crimson Dawn being on their way to collect the soon to be refined Coaxium. If Enfys and his men tried to kill them to steal the Coaxium, Crimson Dawn would slaughter the marauders in return.

But it was right when Beckett was threatening them, that Enfys took a couple strides ahead, menacingly stuck his electroripper staff into the sand and took off his helmet... Only to reveal that Enfys Nest was actually a young girl, leaving everyone to look and feel utterly dumbfounded.

She angrily strutted inside the hut that served as a bar, and after a few moments of hesitation, Han, Beckett, Qi’Ra and Chewie followed her and her men. The barkeeper poured her a drink, and while Han and Beckett tried to accuse her of wanting to steal and keep the Coaxium to herself, she instead started telling them a story.

The story of a band of mercenaries who brutalized the people of Savareen coercing them into periodically surrendering all their refined Coaxium, until the people resisted against them, and the mercenaries cut off all of their tongues. The story of how Crimson Dawn came to be.

Enfys wasn't a marauder, and the rest of her gang were representatives of many planets that Crimson Dawn, together with other four syndicates had destroyed, whose people had been brutally tortured and murdered. Enfys couldn't let the Coaxium fall into Dryden's hands, when she knew that they were going to profit from the fuel to bring further death and destruction upon the innocent. They were a resistance group that was fighting to save the galaxy from the evil power of the Empire, and those who worked for it. There was nothing malicious in their intentions, they were saviors.

Han's heart was pounding in his ears, his brain overloading with information as he turned to look at Qi'Ra who was hiding the Crimson Dawn brand on her wrist. Everything was clear now. Qi'Ra had participated to the carnages. She had probably taken many innocent lives, as much as she needed to become Dryden's right hand and who knew... Maybe something more. She was loyal to him, she was loyal to the syndicate, and even if Han still didn't want to believe it... He didn’t want to believe that Beckett’s continuous warnings were actually true.

Everything was changing now, Han couldn't stick to the main plan anymore. He wasn't going to play any part in the destruction of the galaxy, he wanted to help Enfys, and he knew that they could fight off Crimson Dawn if they could come up with a scheme good enough to trick Dryden.

He still wanted to give Qi'Ra a chance, she knew that what she'd done was very wrong and that could have been a chance of redemption for her, so maybe with her help and knowledge of Crimson Dawn, they could pull his plan off. They were going to make fake refined Coaxium vials to deliver to Dryden, so that they could give Enfys and the resistance the real fuel that they would have used for a far better cause.

Beckett wanted no part of it, so he decided to leave, even if he had told Han that there was no escaping Dryden. Han couldn't help but feel sad to see him flee, he considered Beckett to be some sort of mentor, someone to look up to, but now he was leaving him, too. Just like everyone else he'd ever considered important in his life. He looked back at the Falcon, a sigh escaping his lips when he thought that at least Lando was still there, waiting for him, and that was what gave him the final push to go through with his strategy.

With Chewie still loyally by his side, Han went back into Dryden's yacht together with Qi'Ra, so that they could meet Dryden and set the plan in motion. Han put his acting skills to good use as he told Dryden that Beckett had died trying to save him on Kessel, but from there on, even if at first he’d seemed to believe them, things quickly went south. Beckett had lied, he hadn't run away to save himself, he had warned Dryden of the stunt Han was going to pull and how Qi'Ra was going to betray him, and even showed up in Dryden's living quarters.

But Han had thought one step ahead, demonstrating that after all was said and done, he had learned that people were predictable and not to be trusted. The plan that Beckett had heard about, was a fake one. Han would have wanted Beckett do be different, to truly be the partner he would have needed in that moment, but he wasn't that stupid. He knew that Beckett only cared about himself. What they thought to be fake Coaxium, was actually the real deal. Han had brought it along, leaving Crimson Dawn to think that Enfys had the real vials that they could easily steal, but Dryden's men were going to be left empty handed and defeated by Enfys and her allies.

Once again Beckett proved himself to be disloyal, and opportunistic. As soon as he understood what was going on, and being the only one who was actually carrying a gun, he killed the only two guards that were left to protect Dryden, and made Han give him the Coaxium. On top of that, he obligated Chewie to go with him so he could carry the heavy cases. Han obliged, knowing that Chewie was going to be perfectly fine and capable to deal with Beckett, but the moment those two disappeared into the elevator Han knew that Dryden was going to fight him. After the initial ducking and hiding, Han was about to fire his blaster at Dryden, when Qi'Ra jumped out of her own hiding spot to disarm him, throw him onto the floor and point a massive blade right to the middle of his chest.

That was it, he thought to himself.

She could have killed him in no time, especially with Dryden encouraging her and explaining to Han that she had done things that he couldn't even imagine. Exactly like Qi'Ra had told him many many times. Yet Han couldn't believe that she'd go as far as to kill him, she may have changed and become someone different, someone who followed terrible orders, but that would have been too much. Or so he was still trying to hope.

He was staring up into her eyes, defenceless and terrified, and right when he thought he was done for, Qi'Ra actually turned on Dryden and murdered him, leaving Han completely stunned. He'd seen her fend for herself back in Corellia, but the way she'd been trained to fight by Crimson Dawn was something else, something lethal that Han definitely wasn't expecting to see.

"I had to." Qi'Ra said, dropping her weapon.

Han was down on one knee as he stared at her, stunned. He had managed to seize the opportunity to quickly take cover and grab a hold of a blaster that he never got to use while she was fighting Dryden.

"No you, did–" he stammered, still shocked.

Everything had happened so quickly, that he could barely keep up with it. So she'd been pretending to be loyal to Dryden all this time? Had she really been looking for the right moment to get rid of her tyrant?

But why push Han away, all this while? Was it just because she'd been pursuing her own agenda, all along?

He didn't know, just like he didn't know if she was ever going to tell him the truth, but he stood up nonetheless, and walked up to her, because she looked as shaken by her actions as he was.

"Beckett and Chewbacca, you have to go after them." Qi'Ra told Han when he placed his hands on her shoulders.

"What are you gonna do?" Han asked, heart still hammering in his chest, hands still slightly trembling.

He had no idea what could have happened to Qi'Ra if she stayed there, what if the Empire found her after killing one of its most loyal mobsters? Han couldn't leave her there, she'd just proven to him that she didn't want to keep doing this, she clearly wanted out of the syndicate.

Or did she?

"Well, if we give all the Coaxium to Enfys, we're gonna need something to buy our ship with." she smiled, turning to look at all the jewels and artifacts that covered every surface of Dryden's living quarters.

Han's heart dropped to his stomach. What the hell was she talking about, now? What game had she been playing all this time? Now all of a sudden she wanted to fly away with him, after having pushed him away for days?

He seriously had no idea how he should have interpreted her actions, nor he knew hot to react to her words, especially when she pulled him into a kiss that left him completely paralyzed.

"Qi'Ra..." he whispered, when she pulled back.

No, he couldn't do this to Lando. Nor to himself. He knew he had been obsessing over her since the moment he'd seen her again, but he had moved on. It had hurt to do so, too, but he had found his new perspective, someone he had willingly thrown himself into a battlefield for. Han had made up his mind, he couldn't keep going back and forth from one person to the other, and even if she was looking so sincere and encouraging with her big blue eyes... He didn't really know if he could trust her.  
  
Did he really know her anymore? Especially after what Enfys had revealed... He had his doubts.

She had been his best friend and lover for many years, back in Corellia, he had dreamed about being with her for his entire life. Flying around the galaxy with her, living the way they wanted, being free. But things had changed, and perhaps he and the galaxy were changing too…

His certainties were beginning to teeter and tumble.

"Go and save Chewbacca. He needs you, and you're gonna need him too." she said, her gaze veiled with a sadness that Han couldn't quite place.

"Y-yeah..." Han furrowed his eyebrows, but his lips tried to force a smile.

He wobbled on his legs as he took the first steps towards the elevator, then quickly walked into it, turning back to look at Qi'Ra as she smiled at him. The doors closed and Han wanted to bash his head against the wall.

He didn't even know what he and Lando were going to do about what was happening between them, and now Qi'Ra had to go and tell him that she wanted to buy a ship that they could fly away together with. But he wasn't going to do that, he had to come back to Lando, he had promised he'd come back to him, he had even given him his dices.

No, he needed to be honest with Qi'Ra. He was going to tell her about Lando. Then maybe she was going to kill both of them, but if she didn't he could still ask Lando to take her someplace where she could start a new life. Or maybe they could put up some sort of crew, and perform heists together.

Oh God, what was he even thinking? His mind was racing frantically to find the umpteenth solution to the umpteenth problem, when really he should have been thinking about dealing with Beckett.

That was such a messed up situation. He couldn't believe this was happening.

"Calm down, Han. You gotta save Chewie, you'll think about this mess later." Han told himself out loud, sucked in a deep breath and set out to look for his friend.

If he thought he had hated walking through the snowy landscape of Vandor, as his boots sunk into the piles of snow, making it hard to speed up, he was absolutely loathing shuffling through the sand on Savareen. He kept struggling and slipping, kicking up dirt and grains of sand everywhere as he ran, and getting dust even in his eyes. Why couldn’t he just ran through grass, for once?

When he found them, Beckett had his hands in the air while Chewie stood a few feet away from him with his arms down. Han furrowed his eyebrows, unable to decipher what was going on. He quickly went up the dune they were standing on only to discover Lando pointing his blaster at Beckett. Han's heart dropped to his knees upon seeing him, and he ran to him even faster.

"I saw everything!" Lando began "This bastard pretended to run away, but went to Dryden's yacht instead. Then I saw him come back with all the Coaxium, holding a gun to Chewie's head." he went on, but his angry eyes didn't leave Beckett at all.

Han's eyes fell shut for a moment and a smirk curved his lips. He was glad Lando hadn't stayed on the ship like he'd been told to.

"Dryden dead?" Beckett asked Han, all of a sudden.

"Yeah." he replied as he stood next to Lando, raising his own blaster.

"Qi'Ra kill him?" Beckett went on, a smug smirk curving his lips.

There he went again. Trying him to turn him completely against Qi’Ra. But he obviously would have lied if he were to say that he didn’t even have a shadow of doubt. Once again, Han may have been too easy to trust and give second and third chances, but he wasn’t stupid. Qi’Ra was giving him loads of confusing and mixed signals, and he didn’t know what to think of her any longer. Yet he didn't reply to Beckett, but his jaw tightened. He saw Lando glancing at him inquiringly, out of the corner of his eye.

"Still don't get it, do you, kid?" Beckett's smirk only widened "It was never about you. She's a survivor."

Those words cut through him like a knife. They stabbed him right into his chest and carved out his heart. Han was angry at Beckett, he was angry at his stupid egoism and disloyalty, but most of all he was angry at his inability to stop believing into the people he wished were different. Those words might have been harsh, but he couldn’t help obsessing over the fact that he could have been right. He dreaded that reality, but he needed to consider it.

"You know what's your problem?" Han finally spoke, even if he was feeling like concrete had been poured down his throat "You think everybody's like you."

"Not you, kid." Beckett replied. "You're nothing like me," he shook his head "I hope you're still paying attention. Because now I'm gonna tell you the most important-"

He never finished his sentence, because Han didn't give him the chance, leaving both Lando and Chewie to gasp in surprise as he shot Beckett in cold blood. Yet he ran to him, helping him as he dropped to the ground, and held his hand with tears in his eyes and a knot in his throat. He had to do it, he knew Beckett would betray him again and again and again, he knew that Beckett wouldn't have spared his or anyone else's lives. But it hurt, it hurt like hell. Even if he knew he'd done the right thing.

Again, the thought of Qi'Ra doing the same thing tried to intrude his mind, but he bat it away. This moment didn't concern her.

"You made the smart move, kid. For once." Beckett croaked out "I would've killed you."

Han didn't reply, but he kept holding him up as he held back his tears. They could have made an amazing team, if only Beckett wasn't such a… Kriffing opportunist.

"I really was gonna learn to play that valachord." Beckett cried out, and it struck a chord with Han.

Beckett had truly and deeply loved Val, and Han knew that he missed her with all of himself. Han couldn't help but think that things would have been very different, if she'd survived the train heist.

Perhaps... He had just done him a favor. He could reunite with his love, now.

"I know." Han nodded, his breath hitching in his throat.

“Lando…” Beckett croaked out, almost completely out of breath.

Han furrowed his eyebrows and looked over at Lando, who was scowling down at Beckett, clearly not expecting to be involved into this conversation.

“You treat this kid right.” Beckett went on, choking on the air that got stuck in his throat.

Han’s eyes widened upon hearing those words, and once again his head whipped in Lando’s direction, watching as he gaped at Beckett, with his blaster still in his hand. So Beckett had known, after all. Han may have not told him anything, but he hadn’t needed to. That only served to anger him further, because of what Beckett could have become to him, if he weren’t such an untrustworthy bastard.

Han looked back down at Beckett, and saw him close his eyes, he heard his breathing stop as he slipped away from life. He felt the most painful tug to his heart, but didn’t have time to even suck in a shaky breath, because something caught his eyes as it hovered the ocean. It was Dryden's yacht taking off and leaving, with Qi'Ra as the only passenger. He stood up to watch it go, feeling like his chest might have just collapsed from all the hits he was taking in over the last couple of moments.

Beckett had been right all along. It was never about him, it was only about her survival, it was only about her and the different person she had become. Han couldn’t do anything about that, she had made her own decision. He only wished she wouldn’t have played him like she did.

He didn't realize that Chewie and Lando were standing by each of his sides, but he felt a furry hand on his right shoulder and a human hand rested on the small of his back. He glanced at both of them, quietly, then Chewie moved his hand away when Lando pulled Han into a hug.

"I got you, babe." Lando whispered, only for Han to hear, and it took all of his strength not to give in to the tears he'd been forcing back all along.

He was glad that he hadn't doubted what he felt for Lando because of Qi'Ra, because right now everything would have hurt so much more, but Lando was there for him and Han was glad to wrap his arms around him.

They stayed like that for a while, until Han felt better, in a quiet and peaceful silence, as the waves of the oceans were the only sound they could hear. It was a nice change from the cries and explosion of a battle. Han breathed in Lando's scent, he could still smell cologne on his skin, even after everything he'd gone through that day, and it was just ridiculous. He wasn't going to joke about that, though, he didn't have it in him yet.

Once Han had regained composure and strength, he and Chewie told Lando everything that had happened, and how they needed to give the Coaxium to Enfys.

"Aren't we being a little too honest, for just one day?" Lando commented as he walked back to the refinery with Han and Chewie.

"We still have plenty of time to be dishonest, babe." Han smirked, and his chest felt especially warm when Lando smirked back at him.

"Guess we do." he replied, tilting his head slightly.

Han laughed and Chewie roared happily. The storm had passed, leaving behind countless ruins, but they had come out of it stronger and somehow richer, if not in gold, Han had definitely scored the biggest prize. A handsome scoundrel, and a massive, furry friend to travel the galaxy with.

Once they returned the Coaxium to Enfys, she asked them to join their revolution but they politely declined. They may have been acting heroically this whole time, but when all is said and done, they were still smugglers. Han knew the galaxy was safer because of Enfys, and maybe he was going to help in his own personal way, there no need to join any sort of revolution. Still she insisted that they had to be somehow repaid for their precious help, so she gifted them a vial of Coaxium.

Lando's eyes lit up at the sight, Han knew exactly what he was planning on doing with all the credits it was going to earn them, but he was hoping they could save some for literally anything else they might have needed.

"We're not gonna spend them all to fix the Falcon, are we?" Han asked as they went back to the ship.

"Most of it," Lando replied, glowering at him "we wouldn't have to spend any of it on repairs, if it weren't for you."

Han rolled his eyes, but smiled nonetheless. He knew Lando was right, but he was truly hoping he wouldn't hold it against him forever. An empty hope, probably.

"So where do we go, now?" Han asked, once the three of them were back inside the Falcon.

"Well I'm going to lay down, I'm exhausted." Lando huffed.

"We could all use some rest, huh?" Han raised an eyebrow, glancing at Chewie who just shrugged and growled lowly.

Lando didn't say anything and just made his way to his quarters. Han bit his lower lip, pretending like he wasn't desperate to follow him, and Chewie just roared in exasperation and shoved him forward.

"Hey, hey!" Han groaned, scowling up at Chewie.

_"Stop acting like I'm dumb, I know you wanna climb all over him. Just go ahead."_

"Chewbacca!" Han shouted, eyes widening as the wookie laughed.

 _"I'll be in the cockpit."_ Chewie shook his head and left.

Han bit back a grin as he watched him leave, then almost ran to Lando's quarters, slapping the button that opened the door and finding Lando sitting on his bed, struggling to take off his shirt.

"Was starting to think you'd rather stay with your hairy buddy, _Hen_." Lando quirked an eyebrow at him.

Han grinned as he shut the door behind him, and quickly took off his jacket and shirt as he strode towards Lando, who started laughing as he watched him. Han crawled on top of Lando, forcing him to lay back in the process and leaving a trail of kisses from his collar bone to his jaw.

"My arm, my arm! Careful!" Lando exclaimed as he kept laughing, while Han was set on smothering him in kisses.

"I'm not even touching it!" Han smirked and stopped to stare down at Lando.

He was so beautiful, even when he looked confused as hell.

"What?" Lando asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Thank you." Han said simply.

"Are you thanking me because we're about to–" Lando's face scrunched up, and Han shook his head.

"No, what th–?" Han furrowed his eyebrows "No, not for that! God!" he felt heat creeping up to his chest and cheeks.

He was trying to be sincere and open for a moment, and Lando had to go and make it weird. Stupid Captain Bantha Crap.

"Then what is it?" Lando pressed.

Han rolled his eyes, he knew he was blushing now, so he had to look away "For not running out on me."

Lando grabbed his chin and gently turned his head again so that he was looking back down at him "I had to give you the dices back, didn't I?" he said, letting go of Han's chin to fish the dices out of the pocket of his pants.

Han's expression softened and he relaxed again, dipping his head to capture Lando's lips with his. He felt Lando's left arm sling around his shoulder and the tingling sensation of the cold aurodium of the dices on his bare skin.

For a moment Han thought that everything was well in the galaxy, nothing could hurt him while Lando's mouth pressed against his own. No matter the loss, the pain, it was like everything was falling into place and he was the happiest he had ever been in three long years. He had fought for what he deemed right and had won, not only an important battle, but the person he truly wanted to be with.

Yet all the emotions he'd been burying deep inside of him were screaming into his ears, demanding to be processed instead of silenced. Tears started streaming down his face, uncontrollably, much like a ruptured dam. A sob escaped his lips, and he had to tear himself away from Lando and sit up on his knees. He was completely overwhelmed and taken aback from what was happening to him, he didn't want to show that fragile side of himself, it was so humiliating, but he couldn't for the life of him stop himself.

"Babe! What's wrong?" Lando gasped, concern warping his features as he sat up and grabbed Han by the shoulder.

Han shook his head, unable to speak as the tears kept streaking his cheeks. Lando enveloped him in a tight embrace, just like he had done not too long before, and Han burrowed his face in his neck, finally giving in to the violent sobs that were shaking him.

They stayed like that for what felt like an eternity, while Lando rubbed soothing circles into Han's back, until the crying eventually simmered down to soft whimpers and ragged breaths. Han had asked too much of himself, and disregarded how much he'd been hurting all along for everything that had happened.

"You wanna save everyone, and never take care of yourself." Lando spoke softly, after some time.

Those words made Han's heart twitch in his chest, so he slowly pulled back and rubbed at his eyes with the back of his hand.

"I don't–" he tried to protest, voice hoarse from all the crying.

"You do." Lando nodded "And you beat yourself up for everything that happens, but you can't control everything. That's impossible!"

Han grimaced at those words. He would have wanted to retort, tell Lando that he was wrong, but he would have been blatantly lying. He did want to save everyone, and he did feel like everything that he didn't have control over was a personal failure.

"You felt responsible for L3, for me, for having to kill Beckett when he was definitely gonna kill us all." Lando paused, looking down at his lap "You also feel guilty of not having saved Qi'Ra from the darkness inside her."

Han's chest ached. Lando was right, and Lando was also struggling to speak about Qi'Ra, because he knew what she had meant to him. Even then Han was feeling guilty, but he needed to pull himself together and stop that nonsense.

"It's just..." Han sighed, scrubbing a hand down his face "So much happened. So much crap..." he shook his head.

"I know..." Lando said softly "I know how you feel."

"You lost L3, and I'm the one who just sobbed like an idiot for an hour." Han growled, rolling his eyes. He didn't deserve Lando's empathy.

"This isn't a challenge, Han. Everyone is entitled to their pain, it's not like I got more right to suffer than you." Lando shook his head, pursing his lips. “And you just had to kill someone you considered a friend, and had to watch someone else you cared about leave you behind.”

The corners of Han's mouth twitched, as he tried to hold back his tears again. He cupped Lando's cheek with his hand and watched as he relaxed into the touch and slightly turned his head to kiss the palm of his hand. Han's heart jumped in his chest, pleasantly taken aback by that sort of affectionate reaction.

He had been wrong to think that he had no luck when he came to the people he had feelings for. He had been pretty kriffing lucky to meet Lando.

"I'm really glad I sat at that Sabacc table, y'know?" Han croaked out, a smirk curling his lips.

Lando couldn't help but let out a small laugh "Me too."

"Even if you cheated." Han couldn't really keep himself from slipping that in.

"Are you really that desperate for me to leave you and Chewbacca to rot on Savareen?" Lando raised his eyebrows as he spoke, and Han laughed out loud. "You're insufferable." he continued.

"You love it." Han grinned.

"I really don't." Lando shook his head.

"Yeah, you do." Han nodded, grin still plastered on his face.

Lando rolled his eyes and placed his hand on the back of Han's neck, pulling him in so that he could shut him up with a kiss. And as Han wrapped his arms around Lando's shoulders, he accepted the fact that possibly, just possibly, he was falling in love with Lando. Even if he did cheat at Sabacc, and owned way too many stupid capes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Comments are still much appreciated!

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are much appreciated!


End file.
